It's Not Sane
by schumie
Summary: Sesshoumaru is a perfection-driven workaholic. How cute. His new, dysfunctional stapler hates him. His new, dysfunctional secretary hates him even more...maybe.
1. Default Chapter

This is something I've dug up from a few fics that I started but never finished. Maybe it will go somewhere now…

If you find something that may relate or make reference to another story, I've either done it purposefully, or I'm very sorry for stealing your idea.

Note: Sesshoumaru's last name, I believe, has a 'u' at the end, but I'm going to spell it the stupid American way. Also, pay attention to the other characters' last names. Some are real people. Recognize any?

It'S nOt SanE

cHaptEr 1 Of Staplers and Subordinates

Damn stapler.

I wasn't used to things not working perfectly, exactly when I called upon them to do so. Eight years as a person with in the most influential position in a very most influential company will do that-make you believe that nothing should ever have the nerve to not operate properly when you require its functions, or do whatever you wanted in general, exactly how you wanted.

It's idealistic, of me, I know. Of course, I would learn that most often than not, through liberal amounts of not necessarily unneeded, but most definitely unwanted experience, nothing ever occurs how you plan. At least not for an extended period of time, that is. And my period of time was just about up, and no extension was in sight. One might think that after fourteen years, it was about time something screwed up. That is to say, I had things smoothly for long enough? What most narrow-minded people that think that do not think of is that after fourteen years of smooth operation, a minor glitch can be the fuse to an inconceivable ordeal.

At the moment, the damn gold-plated stapler that I had received as a not-so-gracious gift from my not-so-tolerable assistant, Jaken , was refusing to perform its one, solitary purpose in the world which was to staple my report. Normally, such a thing would not faze me in the slightest, as I am a very controlled, stable person. But today was especially aggravating.

You see, I would normally not even be performing a mindless task such as joining five sheets of paper together with a wiry, sharp piece of metal, but my secretary, a certain Mrs. Kakinouchi, who had discovered she was with child, not that I'm accusing her of anything, had resigned exactly a week prior, leaving me, a CEO, to do his own stapling (very undignified, mind you) with a stapler that didn't even work. Impertinent witch. Yes, the stapler and yes, Mrs. Kakinouchi.

There was a short beep from my conference phone then-

"Mr. Taisho?"

_Fuck_. I usually refrain from using expressive language, even mentally, but today was an exception. The stapler had decided to work--on my index finger.

"Is everything alright, Mr. Taisho?" It was Ms. Ayame Kakinouchi, a very temporary replacement for her elder sister, a happy-go-lucky girl with a pretty face, but whom I did not yet deem capable of manipulating a stapler, let alone a temperamental one. Very temporary. She answered the phone with that happy voice of hers and yelled at one of my subordinate managers, Kouga, for running out on their last date. Not that I could blame him, but he had proven to be somewhat, ok, very dense on numerous occasions. But he was fast and hard-working, so my complaints were minimal. Still, the Ayame woman would have to go. Didn't a woman as young as she have things to do? Like shop or paint her nails or flirt with people other than those who worked for me? She would be relieved when I released her from her permanent duty. She was too damn happy one second, then jumping all over someone's back the next, most likely Kouga's. She had already been here for a week, and it would go no further.

Note to self: never get involved with coworkers. 1.) It will cause trouble in the work environment. 2.) There is nobody that would ever be worth the trouble that it would cause in the work environment.

Perhaps I could give Kakinouchi a different position, on a floor that was at least ten away from mine...

But, back to my day…and what a riveting day it had been so far. A stapler with distemper, a temporary replacement secretary with distemper, who I would have to replace without being distempered. I was just planning on the best way to 'release' Miss Ayame Kakinouchi, (ok I wasn't. In fact I had just planned on telling her "You're fired, now get out, you bipolar broad," but it's always better to make one's self look good), when she decided, adding to the appeal of the day, to spare me the trouble.

"I'm very sorry, Mr. Taisho. Please excuse my sudden decision." She stood, hands folded in front of her, and bowed, though not nearly as much as she should have for being the _second_ secretary to walk out on me in less than a week and a half. And she wasn't even permanent.

"I really didn't expect Mr. Yoro-Kouga- to propose so suddenly. I hope that you can forgive me and I wish your company luck in the future." With that, she left my office, red pigtails bouncing. Ridiculous.

So, I was without secretary. That meant I would have to resort to dire means. I hit the extension number for Jaken's desk. He was upstairs, new pot of coffee made and in my cup, in less than ten minutes. Amazing how he could be so efficient when it came to mundane tasks that didn't require mental functioning. I told him to hold any messages and to bring me last year's revenue records. He held the calls and brought last year's tax records. Good enough for Jaken.

After filling out a generous stack of paperwork, which I was forced to _paperclip_ together, I leaned back in my black leather chair and stared out of my office window. It really was quite a view if you enjoyed cityscapes, I guess, but I hardly got the chance to just gaze out of my window, and when I did, I felt as if I had been staring at the skyscrapers for hours. Modern civilization and technology are wondrous, and yet we build more and more, newer and newer, probably because what we build is so plain and, inevitably, boring that we build more to compensate for it, as opposed to the elegantly-aging, beautiful architectures of old that actually required thought and devotion to create.

The gray concrete and glass wasteland that is Tokyo shined back at me, twinkling with lights that held a false glow, a broken promise in them. They were like many lives, on the outside beautiful and exotic but in the core, foggy, misleading, and ruthlessly unforgiving. Damn, I could use a good gambol in bed.

But, no time for the physical or aesthetical, this was about the practical. There wasn't any room in my world at the moment for dreaming philosophy when there were more important questions like how to persuade the current small company we were working with to merge with out bigger company, and what was the predicted stock market rate for the next five years, and why was my coffee cup empty?

With that last thought, I retrieved a small address book from the lowest drawer of my desk and flipped through it quickly, determined to not let my eyes rest on certain names in the book. Usually, I would not resort to any friend of my half-brother, but I must admit, Miroku was quite good at what he did.

"Hirano, Miroku speaking."

"Hirano."

"Ah, Sesshoumaru! It's been a long time! The last time I saw you, you were plotting Inuyasha's death while he downed too many mai tais at a company party!"

"Hirano."

"Yes, yes, what can I do for you, Mr. Taisho?" Miroku laughed at me with a tinge of mock in his I'm-not-mocking-you-I-promise-voice.

"My secretary, no, last two secretaries have left because of uncontrollable circumstances and I am in need of assistance." I informed him simply. "_Capable_ assistance." I added immediately, knowing Miroku.

"Ah, of course! Let me see…"

"Hirano, not _that_ type of capable."

"I don't know what you're talking about. But…" He blabbered happily. There was the clicking of a key board faintly in the background. "Heh heh, perfect! I have the perfect woman for the job, Sesshou-I mean, Mr. Taisho. In fact, I can guarantee her myself; she's a very good friend of mine and a diligent worker. Rather…different, but a wonderful girl. You'll love her!" He chuckled in a way that made Sesshoumaru question Miroku's capabilities.

"I'm leaving it in your hands. I'm holding you responsible for any mishaps."

"Sure thing. Let me just call her and she should be there tomorrow. I'll phone you if anything comes up to the contrary. Bye, Mr. Taisho! Nice hearing from you!" He began typing feverishly again before I could berate him and I wondered at how such a person like Miroku could come across so simple-minded and ridiculously happy and manage to be fairly bright and efficient in his work.

If I didn't know, I'd think they were all related--the bipolar chick and the horny human resources guy. They were all put on this earth just to spite me. Yes, Miroku had a reputation as quite the ladies man, minus the ladies, in his younger days when he would take every opportune moment he saw to sneak in a good butt squeeze on the unsuspecting girl-and Miroku saw every moment as opportune. It was all quite ironic, really, when you considered that his side job was the typical life of a monk, minus the typical. He insisted that he was a man of the cloth who just managed to work "a little extra reassurance" into life. Like money. And women.

"I want her here on time, Hirano."

"Of course!" he replied happily. I could almost see his silly grin that could be considered scary, depending on whether you were of the fairer sex or not.

"And Hirano-"

"Hm?" I could hear him typing away in the background, immersed in his work, on top of everything….or playing Tetris.

"She isn't one of your past "experiences", is she?" he knew exactly what I was referring to. Miroku was a ladies man and everyone knew it.

"Most unfortunately, no." He said with a dreamy tone that I did not like.

"I will hold you responsible if any trouble ensues." I reminded him coldly.

"Of course." Miroku said sincerely in his faux-noble tone. For some reason, that one always touched a nerve with me, but I finally felt that something was going to my liking so I let it slip. It could have been worse. I could have been stuck with super-schizo Ayame for another week. We could have run out of paper clips.

Later, to add to my already detestable day, the Higurashi woman did not show up for her appointment and Jaken was nowhere to be found. Feeling especially like taking a stroll and disemboweling him, I made my way to his desk, only to find one more tiny annoyance.

"Ouch! Damn, damn, damn!"

As if it hadn't helped enough that when I had called for Jaken, he wasn't at his desk, some random woman, probably an employee, was cursing while nursing a sore foot that she had no doubt gotten while waiting for Jaken to return to his appointed area.

"I can't believe this!" she half groaned, half hollered at her indented shoe.

"Where is Jaken." I asked her, annoyed, and rightfully believing that someone on this earth should be able to answer my questions.

"How the hell should I know? I was supposed to meet him half an hour ago!" she snapped at me and turned back to nursing her foot. I growled but made my way back to my office to call and yell at Miroku for referring a woman to me who couldn't even show up. Jaken would get his payment in due time, then I would find that woman and fire her for insulting, I, the CEO and co-owner of the company. Yes, that ought to brighten my day.

However, my day was only beginning.

Headache. That was my exact thought the moment Miss K. Higurashi walked into my office. She was pretty enough, yet astoundingly unkempt. Perhaps it was the fact that her wavy hair, though dark and shining, did not look as if it could be properly tamed, perhaps it was the fact that she was fidgeting, attempting to cover a run in her nylons, or perhaps it was the fact that her face was void of ten pounds of makeup, but this woman did a wonderful job of being completely different than I had expected and creating a headache in a completely different spot than I was used to. Or perhaps it was the fact that I was interviewing her when I had promised to fire her only minutes before.

"Sit down." I motioned to one of the chairs resting in front of my desk. She walked across the room smoothly, with great confidence for one who exuded such a profound sense of unease. She glanced about her as she sat, eyeing my office almost skeptically, (this was going to be fun, I could tell already.) not crossing her legs, which would have given me a plain view of the run up her thigh-which I had already seen-but instead pressing her legs together tightly and smoothing her gray skirt over them. She glanced at my desk then me, then the desk, and I was having a difficult time reading her actions, but I did manage to pick up that she seemed slightly disgruntled.

"You are Miss Higurashi, I presume. The same Higurashi, I presume, that just snapped at me for asking of the whereabouts of my assistant?"

She nodded, smiling appologetically and warily at me, a kindness and discomfort, and hint of annoyance obvious in her gray-blue eyes. Most remarkable color, very uncommon, but anyways…

"That would be me. Mr. Taisho, it's a pleasure to meet you." She bowed sitting down.

"Likewise, I'm sure." I muttered, already tired of her first interesting appearance which was dulled by the usual, typical talk that she spilled forth as if dumping some foul drink because it was the daily routine. "But I'm not here to discuss trivial matters. Hirano Miroku has told me that you are reliable and have experience in the area of secretarial work. Is this correct?"

She nodded once, smiled quickly, and shifted, gazing at my desk.

"Good. I must be frank, Miss Higurashi. I do not tolerate any mistakes or dramatics in my company. Any foul-"

"Nice Stapler." she said dully, offhandedly. It was obvious she was just as enthusiastic at the prospect of working for me as I was of she doing so. She should be so lucky.

"It doesn't work," I snapped a bit, wary of the potential for this day to go as bad as the one before. As I was saying, any unnecessary-"

"Have you tried checking for a jammed staple in the front part here?" She actually picked up my stapler. That small action alone told me that she was not afraid of me anymore, or maybe she was just trying to use intelligence. How annoying. "Sometimes they get stuck and bent out of shape, but you can't see them, and it doesn't work." she smiled happily, probably relieved to find something else to focus on.

I sighed and rubbed my temples.

"Higurashi, if you do not wish to be here, tell me so, so that I do not waste more time on something that will not be beneficial to either of us."

"Ok, I really don't want to be here." she said plainly.

I said the only thing I could. "Why?" I was actually surprised. It had been a rhetorical question and nobody had ever openly told me that they did not wish to work for me. A position at Taisho Inc. was valuable and noteworthy and respected.

"My Grandpa's in the hospital, my boyfriend of five years broke up with me, I missed the bus and had to stand in the rain on the way here, my nylons ripped (which I'm sure you already noticed) and a plethora of other things. Not to mention that, quite frankly, I think you and your company are stuck up from what I've seen so far."

"I don't care to hear about your personal misgivings."

"You asked, didn't you? And they're not 'misgivings' , they're all someone else's fault. A good majority of them are yours."

Great. Just great. In exchange for a schizo, I got a psychopath. With a mouth.

"I'm so sorry." I replied flatly, annoyed.

"That's exactly what I was thinking."

Now this amazed me. I had truly thought that I would have to place this woman on my Try Desperately Not To Throttle List, but things had taken a small turn. She was catching my attention. Nobody (besides my half-brother) had ever dared to make snide retorts and comments in my company building, on my territory; it was occupational murder to challenge someone such as myself. She was either extremely confident or extremely stupid. Both were equally possible.

We sat, staring at each other for what seemed like an eternity, one that I was hoping would end very, very soon. She got up, without breaking our eye contact, either daring enough not to blink, or scared enough not to let her predator gain ground.

"Well, I guess I'll be going now, considering I've completely blown my chance at this 'chance-of-a-lifetime job," she stood with a false bow. Her tone was mocking

Was she telling me that I was stuck up and that she wouldn't want to work for my company, then expecting to just walk out my door with the upper hand? Now I just couldn't let her do that. My pride depended on having none that would deface my company, publicly, able to walk out in public without a warning from myself. No, I couldn't have that. I would have to teach her a lesson about respect.

"Jaken will show you the necessary things you are required to know and you will officially begin tomorrow." I was going to teach her a lesson. Instead, I hired her. Right now I must seem very confusing and perhaps even weak, but it was quite contrary and perfectly justified in my mind. I needed a secretary, she was the closest thing to one that was within a two mile radius. I needed to teach her a lesson about my company and what better way than to make her part of it? You see, the wonderful thing about being a person who is very good at reasoning is, you can always find a reason for doing exactly what you wish. It's wonderful, really. Help builds confidence.

She looked at me, a pathetically-hidden look of shock and amazement covering her face. I smirked at her and pressed the intercom on my conference phone.

"Yes, Mr. Taisho?" Jaken's toady voice croaked from the other end of the line.

"Jaken, come get Miss…what was it?" I asked deliberately.

"Higurashi." she muttered numbly.

"Yes, Miss Higurashi and show her where she will be stationed and where to find the necessary materials. I hold you responsible for her training."

"Of course, Mr. Taisho!" he croaked and I pressed the button, turning off the phone. I looked up, pleased to find a most traumatized look on Higurashi's face.

"Oh no. You're not telling me that….person… that finally came to his desk is going to be training me…are you?" She half growled, half squeaked."

"With the way you put it….yes." I grinned evilly. "Welcome to Taisho Incorporated, Higurashi. I assume you will live up to the company's standards." I smirked once again and she was about to tell me off but instead squeaked as Jaken tapped her leg.

"Come on, lady. Mr. Taisho can not waste his whole day on the likes of you." he rasped, shoving her along with all his body weight which still could not move her.

"He's so…small." She said without giving Jaken a glance. " I bet you keep small assistants around for kicks. It makes me believe that you really are an ego tripper. And this company's so big. It makes one wonder if you're trying to compensate for a small misgiving of your own. Don't worry, we all have them." She walked past Jaken, immune to his prods which had grown more harmful at her words. "Some are just more…disabling or encumbering than others." she smiled at me, a smile that did not reach her eyes which held a competitive warning in them.

The door swung smoothly shut behind her and Jaken and there was a definite sway to her hips as she left that I couldn't take my eyes off and hated her for. She knew what she had and how to use it. The dangerous type, she was. I could already tell.

Good. A challenge after all of the groveling, dense subordinates I'd had. This should be something new, fresh, and exigent. And if she tired me or proved less than what I originally thought, I could discard her and maybe hire another Kakinouchi as a permanent secretary. I heard there were four sisters in all, one of them was bound to be reasonable.

But, what was that about me compensating for something? She couldn't possibly mean…physical…attributes, I assure you. Could she? Well, that just showed how little she knew.

I leaned back and smiled at the view of the Tokyo cityscape. I'm a stickler for tradition, but I also value variation that can bring valuable changes which otherwise would be overlooked. Hopefully Higurashi would provide a reasonable change and perhaps some entertainment at the same time. I took one last glance at the Tokyo skyline before me and turned back to my desk where my eyes landed on the stapler, the bane of my existence for the last two days. I opened it and discovered a single staple had been jammed into the front of the part where staples were held, and I smiled. I picked out the troublesome staple and tossed it aside, picking up my report. I put the report in the stapler and pressed it down with a smile then drew the report out.

"Fuck."

I pulled out a box of paperclips.

AN: I have nothing against Ayame, don't get me wrong, I just found her as a convenient character

The last names are all a certain type of people. Kudos if you figured it out.

Note: Taisho or Taishou is not taken from Inutaisho (IY's and Sesshy's dad) because that is not his real name. Taishou is a suffix like 'sama' that was used for great leaders/generals, usually militaristic in nature.


	2. Chapter 2

AN: Still don't know if I'll post this. Tell me what you think.

"And all I can do is just pour some tea for two, and speak my point of view, but it's not sane…"

It'S nOt SanE

ChaPtEr 2

"For the last time, no. You may not. I'm busy and you would be a pointless distraction, not to mention you would probably cause an apocalypse and create general chaos in everything. My life is perfectly fine without you at the moment, and probably for the rest of all time, so while you're at it, do not bother ever showing up at all…I don't care… No, I haven't. Go ruin someone else's life, half-wit."

It had already been a bad day. My daughter had professed her 'hatred' for me over the phone as I sent the check for another semester of boarding school.

I hung up the phone and rubbed my temples, trying to prevent the headache which was coming on.

I can't stand my half brother. Take the most annoying person on earth (which is him) and crossbreed it with the most ignorant and idiotic person (which is also him) and that would explain my pain at just hearing his voice. Wait, crossbreeding Inuyasha with Inuyasha. I shivered. That _would _bring the apocalypse.

And why did he insist on calling me on my cell? Because he knew he could get hold of me no matter the circumstance, for the most idiotic reasons. I sighed.

I had lost two secretaries within a week and a half, my assistant seemed to decide it was a perfect time to slack off, and certain tools in the office had quit working, but I must say that, after that hellish week, things were turning out better. Not as good as they had been three weeks prior, but getting better. When I thought about this, it gave me a small tinge somewhere in the pride area, probably located by the spleen, as it proved that 1.)I could run a company smoothly and even more successfully than my father. 2.)Even when things started going wrong, I could still run a company smoothly and successfully.

Unfortunately, this pride tinge must be spread out. I am most secure enough to observe that, if not for the help of Miroku and the woman he chose as my new secretary, things could have been far worse. Having a secretary, for myself, is a must. Appointments, meetings, dates, could not possibly be kept by myself along with all of the numerous tasks I have to perform. A secretary must see that everything is on schedule and going to order, phone calls are made, messages taken, know which calls were in need of directing to myself, and which calls should be thrown away with the rubbish.

So far, Higurashi had proven (though a bit of a neophyte) comprehensive and capable at all of these tasks except for the last.

My conference phone buzzed. "Mr. Hypocritical Stiff, you have a call on line six from a mister….Onigumo." Our-Higurashi and myself's-conversations were very similar to this the last two weeks. Short, to the point, and altogether degrading of the other. Fascinating, really. Great working environment.

"Thank you, Higurashi." I sneered for two reasons. One being that Miss Thang would not even address me properly though I had given her a solid, well-paying job (probably more health care than she had ever had). The second reason was that Mr. Onigumo was absolutely the last person on earth I wanted to have a conversation with and was the first person on earth I would think about decapitating, and I wholly blamed Higurashi for telling him I was in the office.

I picked up the phone, preparing myself for the crafty predator that was Onigumo.

"Taisho speaking." Do not misunderstand, I'm not scared of him in the least, but every time I talk to him, I come away from it feeling as if I need to shower and scrub myself clean for three hours. The man was completely off somewhere, most likely in the head.

"Ah, Sesshoumaru. How are you?" an oily voice said from the other side of the phone.

"Onigumo, I don't recall ever being on a first name basis with you."

"Come now, Sesshoumaru, I thought we were past this." his voiced flowed, tinged with mock and a sneering tone.

"I do not tend to get 'past this' when the last time I was in your presence, you had tried to shut my company down completely with false persuasion and lies."

"Grudges, Sesshoumaru, needless grudges."

I could see his greasy smile in the receiver.

"Cut to the point, Onigumo. What do you want?"

"Just to congratulate you on your success with Subarashi and Sons. Your company has grown quite…impregnable."

"That's very genial of you. Now, if you don't mind-"

"Of course, of course, you're a very busy man. I understand that. Goodbye Mr. Taisho Sesshoumaru. I wish you luck." And he hung up. I put the receiver down, a little more forcefully than usual. That man always sparked an unsteady hatred in me that threatened to spill out some day. At the mere sound of his voice, I became inexplicably angered.

"Stiff, this came from the-"

"Can you not see I'm busy at the moment?" I growled, not wishing to be bothered by anyone in such a fit state as I was after talking to Onigumo.

"Fine. Sheesh, jerk. Hey, nice stapler." she mumbled under her breath, just audible. Ah, it was Higurashi. That should have been evident from her greeting though.

"It works at least." I had thrown caution to the wind and bought a gold-plated stapler when I learned Subarashi and Sons had agreed to merge. Sort of a congratulations present to myself.

"What is it, Higurashi?" I rubbed my temples, now attempting to get rid of the headache that had taken root in my forehead and was causing an annoyance almost comparable to Inuyasha's presence, but not quite.

"Oh, a folder from downstairs." she walked in and threw it on my desk. "Who were you talking to?"

I blinked at the tone of her voice. She almost seemed interested or worried. Or maybe just snoopy.

"Nobody of importance." I replied dully.

"Ah, of course. That would explain the _excessive_ moodiness, headache, and overall upped annoyance factor radiating from you."

"Higurashi, really. I do not want-"

"The other people-your subordinates, I guess-" she smiled dangerously. "are all going out for a drink to celebrate the expansion of Taisho Inc. and the coming corruption and dissolving of the family-owned T&S company. It wouldn't seem right to celebrate your success without you there, so,"

Was she? She wasn't…or was she?

"…you should probably make an appearance or something. You know, smash a bottle of champagne on a boat or cut a really big ribbon or something. As much as you seem like a cold-hearted bastard-"

"Thank you."

"-of course." she interjected. "-well, there seems to be a minor few people who are actually dim enough to enjoy you, so why don't you come out for drinks?" She smiled, not dangerously this time, and I didn't know whether to be pleased or worried. "It'd probably do you some good.." she muttered, ready to leave my office.

"Perhaps I will consider it." I said, without really considering it, but thinking deeply about what would drive her to ask me to come along. She turned and looked at me, truly surprised. It seemed I was thsee only one that could truly shock her. I smiled inwardly. I always had some profound effect on people.

There really was no reason to go out; the merging of companies was not so uncommon. Yet she was right-it was my success, why not celebrate it? I could use a good scotch or a glass of becaucabernet sauvignon anyways.

"Sure, whatever." she mumbled, walking out my door. I followed her. And immediately thought of something fun.

"And Higurashi, you might want to watch yourself. Hitting on you boss is not always an intelligent way to advance yourself."

I smirked broadly as her face slowly changed like a thermometer, the red spreading up and across.

"Why you-" She stopped and sudden composure crossed her face. It worried me, the sudden calm change in her. Not characteristic of her. "I don't think you need to worry about that Sesshoumaru. But then," and her eyes traveled up my body and down again, painfully slow. " Jaken does seem very substantial, doesn't he? So, you know-"

"Yes, I can see how Jaken and yourself would get along agreeably. Similar characteristics, you know."

The red came to her face again as she fumed once more, ready to pounce.

"I'm busy, Higurashi. Goodbye." And I closed the double door in her face. I went back to my desk, my mind temporarily removed from the downfall it had taken after my conversations with Inuyasha and Onigumo.

"You did it again, you stiff bastard!" Kouga clapped me on the back. "I don't know how you get them to fall for your BS, but whatever you do, it's a talent. He grinned at me wolfishly.

And for once, I did not feel inclined to dismember him for treating me so friendly. It was true that I had pulled off a pure stroke of genius in persuading the small, traditional, but very, very profitable Subarashi and Sons Inc. to merge with my company- an immediate gain. Now, I'm not one to brag, but it had taken a sharp mind to talk an old man like Totousai Subarashi into altering everything his family had ever set up between the generations of the company. But, it had been done, and I had succeeded in what was necessary, and my company would benefit greatly from it.

I looked around the crowded bar and was reminded of why I chose to avoid places such as it. The smoke hung in the air like fog and created a layer that seemed to separate reality into two plains. People were chatting animatedly and passing more rounds at the same time. One employee was even attempting to talk, hold her drink in one hand, and light her cigarette with the other. Nonsense, but interesting nonsense. It had been years since I had been in an atmosphere this similar to college nights spent studying, then drinking, then attempting to get laid, not necessarily in that order. I realized that while I was thinking this, I was eyeing the bartender behind the counter who wore a skirt that left little to the imagination. How long had it been since I had any? Well that was private. Hell. I downed another shot, successfully ignoring a woman in spandex that were not flattering on one of an age such as her, who was trying to chat me up while her neon pink flamingo earrings bounced in rhythm with her unrestrained, spandex-ed breasts and blue-painted eyelashes. I got up and left, sliding into a booth that was far enough away from the main chaos, where I could observe my employees without them observing me. The eye of the storm.

'What the hell am I doing here?' ran through my head at least five times before Kouga found me again and talked my ear practically off with his howling, introducing me to Tracy? Melissa? Who knows who, who I found was sitting across from me in the booth five minutes later, yapping her head off about the latest Stephen King novel. I immediately restrained a gagging reflex and excused myself right on over to the bar where I ordered another shot.

It didn't take me long to weave through another chattering crowd, working my way past employees one by one, stopping for two-second conversations, while holding two shots, to find the only empty booth left. I slid down in it, leaning against the wall, thoughts of Naraku and my half-brother coming back in fading shots as I made sure more shots faded into me. Over the next minute, I was aware of someone sitting next to me.

"You look like shit, Taisho."

Ah. Higurashi. Swell.

"That would account for the way I feel." I stated sturdily. I was always one to hold my drink well. I didn't become oblivious and idiotic when drunk like most men. It was something I prided myself on in earlier days. Now it didn't matter, but it was still beneficial.

Higurashi ran a finger over the rim of a shot glass and looked up at me with big blue-gray eyes that reflected the dim lights amazingly.

"Taisho, how many of these have you had?" she looked at me, a trace of worry coming over her flushed face.

"A few." I muttered, half of me wishing she would leave me alone to feel relieved and drunk by myself, the other half wishing for her to stay so I could share my relief and drunkenness. Yes, I admit I was tipsy.

"I'm not drunk though, if you're implying something." I stated plainly.

"Of course." she nodded knowingly and giggled. That's when I realized that we were both hammered. And it was hilarious.

"You know, my little girl, Rin, you could be her mother you know. You both look exactly alike, except she is far more youthful." I observed out loud. Higurashi giggled.

"Are you calling me old?" she reprimanded playfully.

"Comparably, yes."

" How cute! How old is she?"

"Eight going on thirty."

"Well then, it's hardly possible that I could be her mother! Going on thirty and only eight? Sounds like the type of kid you'd have, you stiff bastard." she quipped happily through giggles.

"Why the hell did I just tell you about Rin? I never talk about Rin." I questioned out loud to nobody in particular.

"Why the hell are you here? Why the hell am I here? Why the hell are we drunk? Who knows, who cares!" was her light and possibly slurred response, coming with a giggle and an amazing smile.

And I talked to Higurashi for the remainder of our time at the bar, making stupid remarks about anything and everything and unintentionally telling each other a good portion of our life stories, as the bar emptied out slowly. I felt absolutely ridiculous and stupid but more free than I had been in at least four years. I found an unlikely, very unlikely confident in the drunk Higurashi and it intrigued me. Perhaps I was just completely hammered, which I was, but I noticed things about her sitting across from her in a smoky bar, that I never had and never would have noticed if she had not come to talk to me. I found a new secretary, confident, and something else in the girl across from me. And I wondered tipsily why she was so different and more worthy than the others as I downed another round with her.

I couldn't remember more than five minutes of what had happened the previous night, but I could think of two things at the moment I woke up.

Splitting and Headache. If I had thought I had a headache from talking to Inuyasha and Onigumo in the same day, I had obviously not remembered the effects of mans' best friend: the hangover.

Don't misunderstand, I have a very, very good tolerance for alcohol, but I hadn't been that very, very drunk in quite some time. Simply put, I was getting old. Yay. Nothing like a hangover to remind you that you're getting old. Needless to say, my alarm clock was laying on my floor in a few pieces when I was don't with it.

I got up and showered, hoping that would help hurriedly once I looked at my wristwatch and discovered I would be late to work. Not technically late, mind you, just late for my standards. I got to work an hour early at least every day and usually stayed afterwards, as that felt like the only time I could actually accomplish something. I was just trying to fix my tie (I'd not felt that disheveled in….years and years. Bad feeling.) when my cell rang. I answered it and cringed at the loud voice that assaulted my ears.

"Yo, Sesshoumaru! Up a little late, aren't ya?"

I cursed and growled about how it was because I,_ I, _was the only one responsible enough to run the family company.

"What's that? I can't hear you."

"I said I have a splitting headache and you will be lucky if you last for another thirty seconds if you don't shut the hell up!!" I growled a little too loudly and made myself cringe. I felt like I was falling apart, piece by piece.

"Heh heh. Is that a…hangover, Sesshoumaru?"

"…."

"Woah, never thought I'd see the day. Here, try this."

He proceeded to name off the ingredients of some disgusting concoction, which, thankfully, I had in my kitchen. For once in his lifetime, the runt did something meaningful that actually worked. Not that I would thank him for it. I walked to me car, a white, classic corvette that I'm rather fond of, and headed for work.

"So can I come in today?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"We're still in limbo with some deals and the last thing I need is a half-wit brother bouncing around my office.

"You're a smart-ass stiff with no character, Sesshoumaru. No wonder you don't get any. I bet you get off when you see the sales reports, don't you?"

"And you: a dumb-ass cad with too much of the wrong character. No wonder the women you do get in bed leave you the following day. I bet you get off every other day, after the latest dump."

"….You'll get your's some day."

"I'll look forward to it." I hung up.

I wasn't expecting my third round of headaches to come as soon as I got to the office building, but there it was, and it nearly ran into me.

"Ah! Please excuse me! I'm very sorry, I couldn't….oh, it's you."

"Humane as ever, Higurashi."

"You're one to talk," she snipped, trying desperately to balance a stack of files that was far too large for her to carry to the last floor. She wouldn't make it to the elevator at this rate. I sighed and put down my briefcase. My headache was dissipating, only to return once again like a dimming pulse in my head. I took half the files from her, but not without a condescending look that told her plainly what I was thinking: you're useless. I balanced the stack with one arm and held my briefcase with the other.

She looked shocked for the briefest of seconds then looked as if she decided against it and followed me to the elevator.

"You're looking quite well today, Sesshoumaru-san," she smirked from behind her stack. My brain hurt. It made me feel a bit better though when I realized she wasn't looking all that great either. Her clothes were wrinkled and she had bags under her eyes, giving her a horribly gaunt look, but her mussed hair was actually a bit attractive, waving unruly over her shoulders, I admitted.

"I tried to outdo you today, but as ever, you are the over-achiever, Miss Higurashi. Cleary, you took the Drunken Maniac Day memo a bit more enthusiastically than I ever could. I bow to your superior. costuming skills." I smirked when she growled and looked at me like I was mad.

"Did I just hear you admit that someone is better than you at something? That must be a load off your chest, to not be the best of the world at everything."

I sighed, not wishing to deal with this new pain. We stepped out of the elevator and she followed me to my office.

"Don't you have someone else to stalk?"

"Much worthier victims, I assure you, but these however," she motioned with her chin to the mountain of files we carried. "go straight to you."

She won.

I opened the double door to my office and strode quickly to my desk, placing the folders down and unlocking my briefcase. I had already lost enough time that morning. I was behind, even though other employees would not be in for at least another half hour. That didn't give me much time.

"Yo, Sesshoumaru, CEO of pricks."

My whole body clenched and I felt a painful sigh seep out of my chest, wrapped up completely in utter annoyance.

Higurashi had jumped a foot in the air and flung the files she was about to place on my desk across half the room. She cursed softly, yet colorfully, and began picking them up.

"What gate of hell opened and let you into my building."

"You know, technically," he picked up my stappler and fumbled with it. "hey, I think this is broken…well, it's _our_ company and _our_ building, remember, Sesshoumaru? You just horded it to yourself when Dad died."

"Would you rather have."

"Naw, you're doin' a good job, I guess." He put the stapler down with a clunk.

"Inuyasha, if you would be so kind as to get the hell out, I may be able to do some work." I growled and suddenly felt more tired than I had been in a long time.

"Yeah, yeah, I just wanted to-"

A nice, loud "Damn!!" came from the floor and Higurashi stood up awkwardly in her wrinkled skirt suit.

Inuyasha who had, undoubtedly just noticed her presence, looked at her a bit too wide-eyed for my liking.

"Well, well, Sesshoumaru! Maybe I was wrong! Maybe there is some hope for you still. She's a looker."

"She's my secretary, you imbecile."

"Excuse me. I'm sorry for my bad assumption. He's such a stiff though, I thought he might have finally remembered what women were, but I guess I was wrong." he smiled at Higurashi who smiled back, bowed, and put the folders on my desk and left to do whatever secretarial scheming she did while I had my back turned.

Once she was gone Inuyasha turned back to me, eyebrows raised.

"Hell, if you don't want her, can I have her?"

I clenched my teeth, anger rising. If he thought he could take _another_ secretary from my company, he was gravely mistaken.

Keep your dirty claws off of my employees Inuyasha. In addition, for all you know, she may be married."

"Yeah…sure, way too young."

"Engaged."

"No ring."

"Could be dating."

"Will be."

He grinned at me, like a twisted Cheshire Cat, and all I could do was wonder what Higurashi would say, and sigh at the over-abundance of folders and files within my vicinity.

Higurashi was winning. And losing, though she didn't know it.

Sorry, I wanted to try humor. This chapter is an experiment. If you guys like it and I get enough good reviews, I'll keep going, if not, I'm trashing it, but….;I AM BACK!!! Bwahahhahah ha ha a h a. Tchao.


	3. Chapter 3

AN: I know this is short. Sorry.

I

"

IT's

NoT

SaNe ChAPter 3

I hadn't realized someone else was in Taisho's office. For a second I was worried that it was an unauthorized person or that I had forgotten to tell Taisho about an appointment, but as soon as I saw the guy, there was no mistake that he and Taisho were related. Their hair was amazingly similar, and the color of their eyes the same beautiful tint. Yes, I admitted that Taisho was not very...bad looking. Quite the opposite, but I wasn't about to tell him that. And this relation of his was most certainly not bad looking either. I should know. I dated him.

Amazingly, Inuyasha had played it pretty cool, and I was thankful to him. The last thing I wanted Sesshoumaru to know was that I had dated his relative. It hadn't gone very well to make matters even worse. Don't get me wrong, Inuyasha was a very hot-headed and overly-opinionated person, but he had these wonderfully sweet moments, too.

The problem was, at the time, he had been stuck on some witch that had dumped him for some creep. He was heartbroken and at that time he wasn't capable of another relationship and I wasn't capable of dealing with that.

He had left. Went to stay somewhere in Europe for an undetermined amount of time, more for my sake than his own. He had been a broken person when he left, but now, there was something different about him. A more easy-doing attitude hung about him that felt far more relaxed than he had ever been before. Had he finally accepted his rejection and got on with life like I had told him to a thousand times? Maybe, but for that moment, I wasn't going to make any presumptions.

The fact that he hadn't hinted at anything to Sesshoumaru and played it cooly made me wonder if perhaps he had grown up. Did he finally understand things more? Well, whatever caused him to acted the innocent part, I was unimaginably thankful. What would happen if Taisho knew? Would he fire me out of fear of employee/family relations? Would he be mad for me not telling him? What the hell did it matter? It was Taisho. He had no place in my personal dealings. I would just wait and see how things worked out.

I hurried out of Taisho's office with a queasy feeling and sat at my desk. I went through a couple of messages, sent an email, and with the uneasy feeling in my stomach growing, decided to take a small coffee break.

I wandered to the break room, my instincts guiding me now that I knew the way by heart. I wondered quietly of why Inuyasha had never mentioned an older brother or company before. Had he kept that many things from me? I wracked my brain and clips started gathering.

_"It's beautiful! How did you get the money for this? You don't even work, Inuyasha…you're not spending saved money for me are you?"_

"Family business…don't worry, I'm doing fine. I could buy you a house if you want it…"

Yeah, he had smiled at me at that time. I instinctually clutched at the bracelet underneath my suit jacket sleeve. How ironic that I chose today to wear it in such a long time. I loved the bracelet. It was white gold with a single, beautiful clear blue stone.

_"I thought it looked like the same color of your eyes…I'm sorry, Kagome. Don't forget about me…I thought that maybe if things change…I could come back and…"_

I shook my head. That was a long time ago.

"It's been a long time, Kagome."

I spun around, my coffee splashing onto my outfit. He stood, leaning against the doorway, but rushed forward to help me as I cursed.

"Heh. Sorry about that. Here…" he grabbed a wet paper towel and went to scrub the spot, but I took the towel and dabbed at the spot myself.

"Thanks, but I can do it."

"Oh. Ok," he said, almost sounding hurt. It made me uneasy.

"So, how have you been, Inuyasha? Was Europe nice?"

"Crowded, noisy, pushy people."

"You must have fit in well." I said, dabbing another spot.

"Yep," he said, grinning at me. I smiled back, the uncomfortable feeling between us ebbing away a bit.

Suddenly, he grabbed my wrist and turned it over gently in his hand. I realized, a bit of panic rising, that he had recognized the bracelet.

"Kagome…," he looked into my eyes, a sadness rising in his, along with something else. Was is hope?

"Look, Inuyasha," I pulled my hand away and worked more on the coffee spot, for the point of having something to busy myself with. "I don't know what's happened to you in the last two years, but I'm not ready yet. For now, let's just wait. We can be friends while we do that, can't we?"

He looked at me, then the bracelet. I waited, suddenly feeling anxious.

"Yeah. I'll wait." He looked at me, his eyes full of something I hadn't seen before. "When I was in Europe, I realized the mistake I made. And I realized you had always been there to help me with my mistakes, but that time, I had made the worst mistake- not having you there to help me with it." He reached up and before I could stop him he kissed me on the cheek. He pulled away, gave me a smile and turned towards the door. "I'll wait for you, Kagome. Even if it's just as a friend, I'll wait for you, until I can fix the mistake and be something more."

With a small wave he was gone. I looked at the bracelet, running my fingers over the smooth gold. Inuyasha had gotten smarter. Or stupider.

Great. Just peachy. My life was just throwing one great wrench at a time, wasn't it? First, the job from hell (although, I had to admit it had good benefits), a boss whose crankiness outweighed that of a prepubescent teenage girl (though he was pretty good looking and I had seemed to find an eensy bit of humanity in him, mind you when he was drunk), and an emotionally unstable ex-boyfriend who is related to the prepubescent boss.

I looked at the big coffee mark on my suit. It was going to leave a huge stain, I could tell.

After trying, unsuccessfully to get rid of the stain and the queasy feeling in my stomach, I figured I had better get back to my desk before Taisho found out I had taken an unscheduled break. I could imagine it._ 'Higurashi, bitch blah, blah, bitch, Higurashi.' _ I smiled to myself, but as I got closer to his office, the uncomfortable feeling in my stomach grew…exponentially.

I decided to ignore it, and sat down at my desk. I hadn't sat down for more than one minute when I realized I had left one of the important files for Taisho on my desk. I wondered if Inuyasha might be in his office, but decided to take the chance. I knocked once and entered, hoping Taisho might be too busy to notice me. Boy was I wrong. Instead, his attention turned straight towards me, along with that of the other person in the room.

He was very handsome. Very. Dark, wavy hair, beautiful skin, and dark eyes. Tall, dark, and handsome. And yet, there was something a bit unsettling about him. Like a vampire from old Europe. Beautiful, but with a deadly, hungry glimmer in his eye. He seemed like the kind of man that could get anything he wanted, and was well aware of that fact.

He stared at me and I ducked away, hurrying over to Taisho's desk to deliver the file.

"Are you sure, Sesshoumaru? I would be most honored," He spoke to Taisho in a suave, silky tone, but I could feel his eyes follow me across the room.

"Do not refer to me on such familiar terms, Onigumo. And I am painfully positive about my decision."

I could sense a rigidness about Taisho, a quality of caution in each of his words, and of a deep anger, that was not hidden in the least bit. I set the file on his desk and quickly turned around to head for the door. Instead, I was caught by the dark eyes. I stared at the man's face in poorly hidden wonder for a second, but fought it, ducking my head and walking past him. The said 'Onigumo' reached out his arm, a barrier in front of me.

"Ah, but it would be a most splendid occasion for you. And think, you could take a beautiful young woman for a lovely time. In fact, why not her? She would look splendid by your side, do you not think?"

I sensed Taisho stiffen at his desk behind me.

"My answer was and is no, Onigumo."

"Ah, Sesshoumaru, Sesshoumaru. But she's such a pretty thing! A companies' gala really could not be without the owners of Taisho Inc. but I can understand you must be very busy at this time, what with those precariously balanced deals you have right now. But if you can not attend, may I take this lovely young woman as my date? What do you think? Would you like to attend a companies' ball with me?" he turned fully to me and smiled, his eyes dark and rich. "I would be most honored to be accompanied by such a beautiful woman. What do you say, Miss….."

"She will not be attending," it was more of a growl than a statement. Taisho was directly behind me now. I stood, panicking, not knowing what to do. There was obviously something else going on beneath this. I started panicking, looking between the two men, Taisho, handsome and deadly mad, Onigumo handsome and deadly calm.

"Oh, come now, Sesshoumaru, I'm not going to steal her, I merely wish to be accompanied by a woman so beautiful. I think it only fair that, after degradingly refusing to accept my generous invitation, you let me borrow her for one night only. After all, hostile companies are not looked well upon. Don't you think so, beauty?"

His, the beautiful vampire's attention, was back on me, and this time I realized what I should say.

"I-"

"She will go."

I was furious. Who was he to say whether I went somewhere or not?! I glared at him. Naraku smirked.

"But not with you." Taisho finished with finality. "She will accompany myself. You will gain the extra recognition for my appearance, and you will leave my current clients and deals-in-progress alone."

Onigumo's smirk faded, but only momentarily.

"As you wish, Taisho Sesshoumaru. I am most honored that you accept the invitation."

Onigumo bowed, and turned to leave.

"As for you, my nameless beauty, I will await the night with the highest anticipation." He bowed before me and I saw the gleam in his eyes flash. I gasped silently. They were black, his eyes.

In a second, the man named Onigumo was gone, hopefully for a very, very long time.

A heavy sighed landed on my ears and I tuned to look at Taisho, who was staring at me like a foreign thing. And all the anger came in one flow.

"You…you…ASS!" I yelled, my fingernails digging into my palms. His eyes narrowed, but I wasn't done yet. "How could you talk about me like I'm just someone's property?!" I fumed, my chest rising in heaves. "I may work for you, but I am in no means anybody's, let alone your, property! I'm a person!!! And if you think-"

"Higurashi, it was for your safety." he rubbed his nose, as if warding of a headache. A headache that I was also feeling. "Onigumo Naraku is a man with ambitions even exceeding my, workaholic, hypocritical-stiff ambitions. He will not be easily deterred when he sees something he wants," Taisho looked up at me, pointedly, and I realized what he was implying. He had done that for me? This…ass…had done that for me? No way, he probably just didn't want to lose face in front of a rival, which those two, undoubtedly were.

I had no idea what I had just been volunteered for, but for some reason, I wasn't mad anymore. It was just the was Taisho was, and I'd have to get used to it.

"Still, I would really like it if you didn't do that. Somehow though, I think you're lying."

He looked at me, a questioning expression on his face.

"And why is that?"

I smiled. "You make this guy sound like he's even a bigger hypocritical stiff than you. That's not possible."

A strange expression flashed across his face. Was it humor? He did have a sense of humor, no matter how small, I knew that. I went to return to my desk but he stopped me.

"Higurashi, do you have something nice to wear…a very formal dress?"

"Um….no…." I said unsurely.

He smirked at me.

"Then I suggest you get one."

"Yeah, whatever."

--

AN: Ok, I accidentally made a mistake on this story, thus it is 5 pages shorter this chapter than I had planned. Those 5 pages will show up later though..

Thanks for the reviews! Please repeat! Send suggestions if you have them.

cloverx


	4. Chapter 4

AN: Sorry that the last chapter was so short. There were some mistakes, too. I'll repost it later though, all nice and polished.

"You know I'd like to keep my face dry today. So stay with me and I'll have it made…"

It'S nOt

sANe chapter 4

She had looked perturbed, then understanding and perturbed, when I explained (quite poorly) my reasoning behind having her go to the gala with me. Most parts of it had been true. I'd get to the rest of the parts at some later time, when I trusted my sanity a bit more.

The next few days were…odd. Maybe it was just the fact that things had been running too smoothly for too long. Murphy's law. Maybe I was just at that point where I knew something bad ought to be happening and it just wasn't. Had I brought this all upon myself? What, was I kidding? I'm not an idiot. Things all started going downhill that one week, and had only gained momentum. It wasn't me. It was Onigumo, Higurashi, and my past secretaries. Or was it?

Oh, what the hell was I going on about? What was this, some sort of midlife crisis for the non-midlife man? Was I supposed to be having an epiphany? All that was sure was that if I didn't have one soon, someone was going to get one shoved up their-what was wrong with me?!

I don't lose control. I am Taisho Sesshoumaru, and I am above losing my control and breaking apart like other lesser people.

"Taisho-"

"I've found the source of the problem. It all began with the stapler. The stapler brought it on. It's the only reasonable explanation," I muttered to myself, unaware that Higurashi had walked into my office.

"Uh, Taisho?"

"Yes, it is only reasonable. After that damn stapler, it was the secretaries, then the losing of those deals and contracts…"

"Sesshoumaru!!!"

I looked up slowly, finally aware of Higurashi's presence.

"What is it, Higurashi? I'm busy now."

She looked at me with the positively oddest expression I had ever seen. Like one of those anime things with their weird sweat drops and veins that they're always sprouting.

"Um, as deeply rooted as your hatred may be for office supplies," she looked pointedly at the dismembered stapler on my desk, "I think it might be a good idea for you to take a short coffee break or something." she looked at me, scrutinizing.

"Are you implying that my mental capabilities are failing?" I raised an eyebrow and she shrugged.

"Yeah, I guess so."

I snorted. "I have run this company more successfully than it ever has been for years, Higurashi. It will not deter me now."

"I'm just saying, maybe you should take a break every millennia or so."

Millennium…? Was she being smart with me? I was not in the mood.

"I am perfectly fine."

"You're a workaholic."

"I most definitely am not."

"First sign-denial."

"Higurashi, I really have no time for-"

"It's Sunday."

Ah. I lost. Of course, she was right. But I wasn't about to admit to her that I was a workaholic, even if I was the best workaholic modern Tokyo had seen.

"Then what are you doing here, Higurashi?"

Yes, a good solid sentence. One that could be as harmless as a question of concern, or satisfyingly mocking and domineering. Whichever way she took it (most likely the second way), would benefit me.

"Making sure you don't lose it." She beamed at me, her smile obviously over-exaggerated. There was an uneasiness in her actions, and a hint of pleading. Had I become such a person? Yes, but I had never really minded it before. But more, why would she care even in the slightest if I were a workaholic? Could she possibly have been worrying about me? I cringed. Great, just what I needed. A nosy secretary.

"Higurashi, you over-dramatize everything," I replied stilly, hoping she would understand my meaning, because I didn't.

"Good! Let's go to the coffee house down the street!" She grinned, snatching my briefcase while marching out of the office.

I realized when she said that, that she had produced the answer I needed. The truth was, I wanted to get the hell out of that damn office and I wanted to go get a coffee, and I wanted to not want that. But she had seen through the last little difficulty. This woman was either clairvoyant or I was truly becoming very, very sick. Since when had I wanted to not work? At a normal work time of day?

I growled under my breath, but in truth, was slightly amazed at her very forward actions. I followed dumbly and grumpily as she walked right out of the building and onto the busy streets of Tokyo.

She really did have an idiotic smile. Too bad it was actually pretty once in a while.

* * *

I had to get out of that damn office! I had to get him out of that damn office! Inuyasha had somehow gotten hold of my number and left a message the night before, saying that he would come in to work the next day (Sunday, I guess he knows Taisho's insane work schedule) to talk to Sesshoumaru and myself. Obviously, I was a bit....panicky and most definitely overreacting, but I wanted nothing more than to get Taisho out of there before Inuyasha showed up. I just couldn't deal with it right at that time. And, truthfully, I really didn't want Taisho to know about Inuyasha and myself.

So I told a little white lie of sorts. I convinced Taisho that his workaholic self would crack under the stress, with a bit of difficulty (for a person could not possibly miss the fact that he would be a hard person to crack). So sue me.

Taisho had wanted to drive-he just loved showing off in his corvette, I was sure-but I insisted that we walk. After all, Inuyasha would be driving and more likely to see us pass him if we were also driving. When you walk, you can blend with other people. Blending is good.

"It will be good for us to walk. I could use the exercise and you could-" I stopped short as I glanced at his hard body. He obviously had a nice body under that business suit of his. I wondered how he found time to work out with all of the workaholic factor and all. But he was a rich bastard; he probably had his own gym or something. Complete with Swedish Masseuse name Helga, and all.

I realized when we got to the coffee shop that we had come talk-free, and thankfully, Inuyasha-free. But I felt a bit ashamed for interrupting Taisho's work to help with my personal crisis. So I said the first thing that came to mind.

"Do you ever sleep?"

He looked a bit surprised. He'd probably forgotten I was there, and was was probably fantasizing about corporate spending or something like that.

"Yes, I do," he stated calmly, his attention slowly shifting from the coffee resting on the table in front of him, to me. For some reason, a certain intensity always seemed to come from his eyes that made me feel jittery and nervous, like I was being scrutinized. Again.

"Every night?"

"Generally," he said it with such a bored tone that I almost wanted to hit him with and alarm clock. I maintained composure, however. I pride myself on maintaining a professional air when it is needed.

"Do you have insomnia?"

"No."

"Do you worry about Rin?"

"She is capable of sleeping without dying, I assure you; she doesn't require my constant vigil."

"Where's her mother?" There, I said it. A question that had been eating away at me for a while. So he had a cute little daughter that was far too old for her age, but where was the cute and far too young of age mother?

"That is most definitely not of importance or business to you. It is a matter of myself and Rin."

His voiced changed suddenly, ricocheting between anger and something a bit different and deeper, almost like sadness. I wondered why the two emotions seemed so often to corresponded. At any other time, I would have poked and prodded and annoyed, but this day was just too….this day. For some reason, the drizzly gray sky that hid the fact that it was early afternoon made me feel a bit less like fighting and more like plopping in front of a fire to sit and read in peace.

"I see. I respect that." Perhaps he did not take for granted the fact that I did not protest, after he sat looking ready for me to say more.

"Where is she going to school," I sad softly, sipping my coffee once then stirring it absentmindedly. Perhaps if anger did not work on him, the opposite would. He seemed a bit shocked, or either his mind was focused elsewhere. But, amazingly, he responded with a sigh that I could not hear, but could feel.

"She attends a private school on Okinawa. I thought it would be good for her to see different parts of Japan and build some independence. If I have the correct means, I will send her traveling after she completes all of her studies. I believe striking out on one's own is essential to becoming a capable and established person."

I found myself nodding, shocked. He had just said as much as he ever had to me in one single amount of time and it was all about…his daughter. Maybe, just maybe, I had underestimated him…

"I definitely understand your reasoning behind that, but don't you think that at such a young age, it's just as necessary for her to learn a little bit of dependence? I mean, after all, a person without other people is nothing. We build the basis for our lives on what we learn from those we depend on in the earlier stages of our life. I agree to no end that later on, I think all of us should strike out on our own for a bit, but just as independence is a necessity for life, so is dependence. Sometimes we have to rely on others, to get a foot on the ground. A person who can only take advice from their self is no genius, but merely a wise fool.

Plus, you're her dad. No matter what you say, you will never convince me that a daughter does not need her father. Trust me, I know."

"Higurashi-"

Suddenly I panicked, realizing I had just said way too much.

"Er," I looked at him, waiting for the annoying tradition of berating to rain down.

" that may be the most, and only, intellectual thing you have ever said."

"Ah-well." I didn't know how to take that. I plain just didn't know. From anybody else that would annoy the hell out of me and have bad repercussions for whoever said it, but coming from him it was almost the equivalent of a badly-placed compliment. This man was just crazy. Couldn't he just be like everyone else? " but we were talking about your daughter, uh-"

"Rin."

"Yes, Rin! What a cute name…but anyways, what is she like? I think one time you said she was older than her age, but I don't remember much."

I watched as he took a drink of his coffee, waiting to see if he would say anything else. He put the cup down and looked at me as if trying to decipher my intent. And suddenly I realized how weird all of what I'd been doing may have seemed. Before, I had always acted like I despised the very ground he walked on, which I sort of had, but now I was inquiring about his daughter over a cup of coffee which I invited him to. Heh, maybe I really was fickle like Mama used to say.

"The most independent dependent child you will every meet. I guess that's part of the problem with teaching her independence. She clings to and bosses my assistant, Jaken, with whatever mood inspires her. She's short for her age and did not speak for a long while. I thought her maybe deaf or dumb, but felt there was a keen intelligence about her, which I was, invariable right about in the end. And," I could almost see his disapproval, "she likes…flowers. "

I tried to stifle a laugh, barely successful.

"Somehow she sounds very like you and yet utterly different. Genetics are amazing." I said, trying to sound educated, while still in awe.

"Hm, perhaps. She is much more….frolicky and effervescent. I have not the slightest notion of where that came from."

"She sounds so cute!"

"She talks incessantly," he said placidly.

"Ah. Well. She sounds much more human than you!" I tried a uneasy, humorous smile, and took it as successful when he did not reply.

So old 'stick up the ass' was real. He had a living, breathing daughter that, if I didn't know better, he was obsessively proud of, even if he didn't show it by driving around a car that said 'my daughter is a top student' on the bumper sticker.

I sighed with a giggle, imagining Sesshoumaru, the soccer dad driving a minivan. Ha! If that weren't so scary, it would be laugh-to-death hilarious.

No was a good time to ask.

"So, Taisho, if I were to tell you that I-"

"Hey! There you guys are! I've been looking all over for you!"

Enter: the last person I wanted to be there right at that very, particular, certain instant. Inuyasha.

My brother came barging into the café like a stupid golden retriever that'd found its play toy. Ah, the joys of siblinghood. I felt like committing some parricide.

Inuyasha dragged a chair over to us.

"Hey Sesshoumaru. Hello, unnamed secretary. This stiff hasn't been…hitting on you, has he?" Inuyasha sounded genuinely concerned, but there was a glimmer in his eye directed towards Higurashi. Suddenly, she seemed squirmish, adjusting her shirt and dress pants.

She had been so calm and relaxed, almost like a normal human woman, if a bit off, as we sat talking over the coffee which I sipped on at intervals and she played with. We had actually conversed on normal, even maybe intelligent topics and she had seemed interested in Rin, but now that Inuyasha had arrived, she seemed uncharacteristically uncomfortable.

"Inuyasha, could you not, for one day, be the bane of someone else's existence? Or are you talents limited to myself?" I rubbed my nose, feeling yet another headache coming. Mental note, have Higurashi schedule an appointment with a physician for me. Or perhaps it was just the two plagues sitting before me…

"I would, but it's just so much more fun to bug the hell out of you than anyone else. I've spent my life perfecting the best ways to annoy you. I'd waste my effort and time on some besides you. But I guess you're really not all worth that time, are you, so maybe-" he grinned and I noticed that jeering look coming to his overly large eyebrows.

"Ah-Taisho-san! So this is your real brother? You look so much alike-"

I glared murderously at Higurashi.

"That is, your eyes are the same color and you both have the same beautiful hair color." she smiled meekly, knowing that both Inuyasha and I would pounce on her if she continued wrongly. This coffee shop was most definitely not a good idea. Mental note: never do coffee with a temperamental secretary and your spawn-of-hell brother.

* * *

"You think my hair color is beautiful," Inuyasha smiled slyly. "Why I never knew that you-"

"Uh, yes, well that's because I hadn't met you before," I looked at Inuyasha pointedly and he looked at me stilly and questionably. "so I didn't know that you had the same hair as Taisho-san…." I glared at him, but he snapped out of it and gave me a suave smile.

"Inuyasha. Just Inuyasha and what name may I call you by Miss…"

"Higurashi Kagome. You may call me Higurashi-san."

"Miss Higurashi, it's a pleasure to…finally….meet you."

I started to feel the heat rise in my cheeks. I didn't like the way he put emphasis on the finally. What was he getting at? He obviously knew that I didn't want Taisho to know about or previous relationship and he seemed to think it was some game he could play with, the dog."

"Taisho-san, when did you say that ball was? I haven't gotten my dress yet. Perhaps you could inform me about it a bit more. Should I try to coordinate my dress with your tuxedo?" It was cheap, but it was revenge.

"Ah, Sesshoumaru, you didn't tell me you were having a company ball," Inuyasha half whined and half smirked. If I hadn't been crazy mad at him, it might have seemed kind of cute. So I told myself to focus on his thick eyebrows. It was one feature of his that had always seemed out of place. Heh.

"I'm not. We are attending a gala that is being put on by Onigumo Naraku." he replied curtly to Inuyasha then turned to me. "Black and white are most practical."

Nodded and smirked in the direction of Inuyasha.

"Why the hell are you going to something put on by that freak?!" Inuyasha nearly yelled at Sesshoumaru. So I was right about Onigumo not being that great of a person.

"That is none of your business. If you have forgotten, you gave up on Taisho Inc. quite a while ago, Inuyasha. It is not your concern with what other companies I affiliate with.

"But that guy?! C'mon, Sess-"

"As much as this Onigumo Naraku seemed unreliable to me, Taisho-san is correct…Inuyasha-san. Perhaps if you are worried, you may take more interest in the company that Taisho-san has worked so hard to preserve. Oh, forgive me. That was very straight forward."

"Perhaps you could learn a thing or two from women every so often instead of throwing them away, Inuyasha." Sesshoumaru remarked offhandedly and I almost hugged him. He didn't know how right he was.

"You have got to be kidding me. Even your new secretary is ganging up on me."

"Who could blame her?"

I merely looked at Inuyasha with my best sympathetic smile.

"You know," Inuyasha looked from me to Sesshoumaru, a devilish grin taking place of the angry shock. He turned to look straight at me. "this reminds me of this one time that I was skiing with y-"

He wasn't! I felt my cheeks redden. No, he couldn't! How could he start telling that story! That was between us! That no-good dirty mutt! I'd skin him alive, strap him down and make him watch B romance movies and Married With Children reruns till he died of starvation (I'd keep him on a water drip so he wouldn't die so quickly!!).

* * *

"I-Inuyasha, I would love to hear of your interesting skiing stories, but I'm afraid Taisho-san and myself have a meeting to get to. It was moved to this weekend."

She was glancing quickly from the rim of her coffee cup to my face, her eyes darting like blue lighting, and stuttering like a fool.

"T-that is, we I think that we, uh, Taisho-san, and-"

Her cheeks could have made a tomato cry in defeat. I almost laughed. I was nearly about to crack. I could feel the smile slowly spreading against my will, the cheek muscles yelling at me that resistance was futile. I couldn't help but cover the smile and the amazing amount of shock as my sudden moment of enlightenment came with a content flow of interlacing events. You might say I had one of those 'Siddartha-esque' moments. The smile faded and my thoughts sunk inward to where they could not be read on my face.

I looked at her flushed cheeks and the way she smiled nervously from the table to my profile, thinking that I could not see her. It was the only reasonable explanation. And what an explanation. The reason of why she was always so flustered lately and nervously cautious around me, was that underneath her confident façade, a trick I had long mastered, was something she held secret. I watched her peer anxiously now between myself and Inuyasha. She was uncomfortable around him, with his coming onto her again. She was trying to hide it, her secret. I wondered quietly how long she had been going through those feelings. How long had it taken me to realize that she, Higurashi Kagome, was in love with me?

* * *

Some things in life we just can't plan. Foresight is not something bestowed upon most humans, and I, though I have some other unnatural oddities, am no exception. Sometimes this fact made life livable, the unknown offering interest to mundane lifestyles, small surprises sneaking up when you need them most. And sometimes the unexpected surprises are not in the least bit helpful or wanted. The unwanted surprise in the form of an ex-boyfriend was near the bottom, but it came at that moment, packaged, signed, sealed, and delivered as a one Inuyasha for a one Higurashi Kagome, who just happened to be, you guessed it, me. I punched the side of the table and passed it off as a slip after cursing under my breath.

Why did I not want Inuyasha around so much? The man literally walked out on our relationship because he was too stuck on another chick to have a real one with me without seeing her every time he looked at me.

Ok, so maybe I was a bit touchy on the subject and a little unkind about it and not very understanding. See the thing was, I was deadly in love with him.

AN: Sorry about the filler. Poor Sesshoumaru…for as perceptive as he is…yeah. Please tell me what you think!

Before I post another chapter of this again, I will be working on the next chapter of Special Circumstances (another k/s) so check it out or just be patient.

In the series, Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru's father is called by Inu-taisho or Inutaisho. Taisho is a suffix added to a name, usually for those of military or ruling stature. It's definition is general; leader. Therefore, I thought, hey, this sounds pretty good. Thus, the last names of IY and Sesshou.


	5. Chapter 5

AN: Sorry, been extremely busy. I know I said I would do a chapter of S.C. first, but I didn't feel like dealing with a sadder story.

IT's nOt sANe

ChapTeR 5

The next week was almost intolerable. If there were something as bad as Inuyasha, Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday were definitely top runners for the position. And the great part was that it was my fault, all the misery.

After the little café fiasco, Higurashi had almost dragged me out, nearly spilling coffee over us both. Then we walked, and she made ever so sure that it looked like we were walking with a very particular and very important purpose. Until we got around the second corner. Then she completely lost steam and slouched against the wall of a department building, not saying a word.

Shoving my latest enlightenment from my thoughts, I stood there, looking at her slumped figure, wishing like all hell that she would look up, see the chastising look on my face, realize that what she was doing was ridiculous, feel accurately demeaned, and confess. She didn't. Instead of feeling foolish, she was suddenly furious. She started mumbling under her breath and looked ready to punch the wall. Instead she turned, resting her forehead on the cement building front, and became not unlike a limp noodle.

She looked exhausted, her hair swinging towards the wall, completely covering the sides of her face so not an eyelash could be seen. I knew I was seeing something I shouldn't be-her feeling of defeat. I stood there, slightly amused, looking mean and critical of her, just in case she turned around. I suddenly felt very foolish. And awkward. Which, by the way, me feeling like that is about as common as Inuyasha being shrewd.

And I stood there for about two more minutes, feeling utterly idiotic. Fortunately, she also did something stupid which caused me to stop my stupidity and trade it in for a newer, updated version.

She punched the wall very hard. Or tried to. See, my hand got in the way and saved the wall from a most painful encounter by deciding to stop the needless assault on the fine cement.

I had done it without even thinking, which was evident when I was startled to feel the soft fist inside my hand. Not exactly small hands, I mused to myself, but in comparison, mine dwarfed hers. They could swallow hers whole.

It took her a second, but then she whipped around, an angry and confused look in her face.

"Taisho. You're still here," she said quietly. Scary thing, quiet, when coming from Higurashi.

"You declared that I have had an appointment rescheduled for today, yet I do not recall such and surely you would have told me yesterday or before, if so. In which case, I was debating whether to ask you where this appointment is and when it was being held, or what would be the best time today to fire you." Point for me.

She looked at me slowly, as if she didn't quite understand what she was seeing. Then, slowly, she turned her attention to my right hand which was still holding hers. A tinge of pink came to her cheeks.

"Why did you stop me, Taisho?"

I studied her and wondered if she would ever have the nerve to tell me her little secret. Could I worm it out? Did it matter? Of course not.

Instead of dropping her hand, which would make it seem that I had not meant to stop her, which would mean I had not thought before I acted and that I didn't have the nerve to admit it, I turned her hand over in mine. It was not as white as mine, though pale, and very soft. They were the hands of someone not too skinny and not overly obese. Her fingernails were painted clear.

"It doesn't make much of a difference to me, but if you're going to punch something or someone, it would be best not to do it that way." I turned over her hand and opened her palm face up, resting on my hand. I slowly closed her fingers with my other hand. "If you leave your thumb inside, you may break it or seriously harm it." I folded her thumb outside of her other fingers then turned her hand over again. "And never punch with your knuckles first. You will only manage to break them. Instead, punch with this flat surfaced part." I drew a line over the correct impact area with a finger and spun her around to face the wall again, fist ready. "Now punch away."

I stepped back and started back to the office. I had work to do. I decided that social outings weren't my forte. Give me stick-in-the-mud-workaholic anytime. It was far easier than trying to be 'real'.

I heard her steps behind me and almost smiled triumphantly. The girl had been fixated on our hands the whole time. She was mine, and I was going to enjoy my new toy. It would be fun to play with something new again. After all, it had been a long time.

"Taisho?" she said a bit winded from jogging to catch up in unmanageable shoes.

I turned slowly, savoring the moment. Despite what anybody tells you, games and manipulation bring much pleasure. "What is it, Higurashi."

"Like this?" she asked and punched me with all her might, straight in my stomach. I lurched forward, gasping for a couple breaths before I could, painfully, stand straight again. She was walking away, gazing contentedly at her hand, just as she had at ours while I was showing her how to make a fist.

I would never admit that while that was happening, I had been too.

Ironic, that my one attempt at nicety had been used as a, very painful, weapon against me. I had armed the enemy. Who was more idiotic? Inuyasha, or myself?

It was the only thing that seemed right to do. I know that sounds twisted, thinking that punching someone is the right thing to do, but at the time, it was the only thing that came to mind. And it felt good. Hey, I couldn't stand, facing a wall, all day. I had Inuyasha to maim.

However, I had left my purse and cell phone at the office. All I had brought with me was my wallet. I figured I could probably live off of that until Monday, but I didn't want to take the chance of a janitor finding my purse or Taisho finding my cell. Then he would get my number and probably call me in to work weekends. Ugh, Taisho. It had felt good, hitting him. Real good. Something satisfactory about the way he doubled over. Heh.

And Inuyasha. Oh, I was going to torture him in the end. But what should I do? If I called him, he would just know how mad I was and probably just prolong his little game. If I didn't talk to him, what would he do?

I needed one long bath.

* * *

When I got back to my office, I made no delay in throwing in the towel for the day. I wanted to go home and have a nice bottle of cold sake. I figured, after the little café episode, I could stand a bit of relaxation, seeing how that was the only time I got any-alone, at home, nobody in the near vicinity, door locked, windows covered, phone off.

Was I running away? Ha! A Taisho never runs away! (Well except for Inuyasha and that one very odd aunt of a cousin's brother who had that weird thing with penguins, but that's a different story.)

The fact was, I just didn't think I could handle another minute of work, Inuyasha, or the madly smitten Higurashi. So, was I running away? Far from it! Hardly! Perhaps a bit.

I must also state that a Taisho, much like a Shakespearean tragic hero, is always honest to himself-an amazing and rare trait, I might add. Which is why I knew that I really just needed to escape my secretary for the rest of the weekend. So she liked me, it made no difference in whether I liked her or not. I was perfectly content with just ignoring the fact, and if I had to, her also.

Another Taisho trait to add to the list: so exceedingly smart and keen we are, that we are capable of amazingly clever manipulation. To such a degree in fact, that we can even go as far as to manipulate our own thoughts if we wish so.

Thus it is perfectly fine for me to manipulate my thoughts and feelings and be completely honest to myself about those manipulated thoughts and feelings. It's a sort of 'knowledgeable ignorance is bliss' or 'be (as slightly as you need to be) true to yourself'". Bully for me.

The thing was, I couldn't hang on this Higurashi thing. I would place it aside and forget about it until she confessed, then probably fire her so I wouldn't have to listen to her sobs. Right, who needed woman trouble at a time like that? Not I; I had a corporate world to conquer, before someone else less deserving did so.

Oh hell. Speaking of undeserving, conquering fanatics, I had completely forgotten…

* * *

Oh no. ARUGH! I couldn't believe it. This was not possible. I could not possibly have this shitty of a day, all in one day! There I was, embedding my little happy fists into Taisho's lower abdomen, when in less than a week, I was supposed to be his date to a ball. The prospect of my arm linking in his without savage violence involved made my stomach churn. Was it possible to make such an idiot out of yourself in one afternoon?

What should I do? Skip out on the gala? Not show? Recommend a different date? "You see, my brother's deathly ill with an infected toenail. Got into his bloodstream. Yeah, blood poisoning. But, I would highly recommend my American aunt, Bertha." No way, the guy may be a prick, but he was not one thing, and that was stupid. So, what to do? I could quit. Just call him and tell him that I quit. Yeah, that would ease quite a few troubles. Or I could just apologize. Or not. Ha! Damn.

Damn. I had forgotten that Miss Uppercut was my date for Onigumo's little gathering the next weekend. What was I going to do now? Tell her I wasn't going? Fire her? No, despite the fact that I hated it, she was the best goddamn secretary I'd ever had. Most reliable, at least (ha! If that wasn't irony! I didn't know anything less predictable than her.) I couldn't just throw her away…well, technically, I really could. It would be better for her to not attend any function where Onigumo would be present anyways.

That's when memory and a tiny little presence of guilt buried in some corroding chest in the back of my mind popped out of nowhere. Memory reminded me that Onigumo would stalk her if he discovered she would not be attending with myself (or, hopefully, he could have lost interest by now). And I couldn't let that happen to any of my employees; they were mine. Plus, she was something I had that he didn't, and he wanted. It put me one step ahead. That settled it, I needed to have her as a date on that night, which meant that, ultimately, I was going to have to apologize. Hell. I never apologized. Not even to myself!

Damn. What had I gotten myself into?

I would just have to figure out a way to atone for all of the skirmishes and onslaughts between Higurashi and myself. What-flowers? A card? Hell, why couldn't I just send her a male stripper, for all it's worth! OK, that was sarcasm. I'm not like that. This woman, this woman would cause me nothing but headaches for the rest of all time that I knew her, I could tell.

Suddenly it came to me-there was this thing Kouga had mentioned before. Something about asking for others' advice. But who the hell could I talk to about my Higurashi dilemma? Who was pretty good with women (besides myself in my younger years), or at least knew what they were (as opposed to Inuyasha). Hell, it could even be a pimp or a pervert, for all I cared. Ah, instant revelation.

"Hirano Miroku speaking!" a cheerful voice pronounced from the other end of my office phone (I had gone back to the office after Higurashi decided to take out her frustrations on my stomach).

"Hirano-"

"Is that you Sesshoumaru? How'd you get my home phone? Don't tell me you're in the office right now!"

"…"

"Seriously, it's bad for your health, working that much. You know it'll ruin your complexion, too. It makes your chances for getting laid decrease tremendously, you know. But I guess you do have the money factor…so you're covered. Work all you want!"

"…I told you that we are not on a first name basis, Hirano."

"Oh, right. Sorry. Anyways, what can I do for you?"

I sighed, attempting to ease the desire to throttle him.

"It's about Higurashi."

"Oh! Isn't she the best! The nicest girl ever! Would never accept my date proposals, but she's great, isn't she! And she's such a hard worker! Once she sets her mind to something, she gets it done!"

"I'm sure."

"Uh-oh. What's she done?"

"You say that like you were expecting something."

"Well, she's just strong-willed like you." Miroku paused. "Do you need me to find someone else?"

"No. She's a, surprisingly, adept secretary. However, there is a certain situation that I need your assistance in…"

* * *

What the hell was I going to do! I couldn't just walk out on my job and the party. I couldn't let some little thing throw me off this much. I would just have march into work on Monday and try to maintain my dignity, and thus my job. After completely avoiding him while I got my purse today, that is. Why go through unnecessary confrontations, right?

Yes, I would just return to work as normal. Maybe I could stand to give him a little apology-a very little one. Or should I write him an apology letter? Oh hell, why was this such a dilemma! He was just my idiotic boss, for goodness' sake!

But I couldn't take it. I needed to vent to someone. I snuck back to my desk without making a noise the whole way through the office building. Once I got there, I pulled my chair out, grabbed my purse and cell phone and hid under the desk. Ok, not very dignified, but it was a precaution in case Taisho decided to come back to work, which he probably wouldn't. And his office door was closed and looked locked.

So I sat huddled and called the only person I could think of that could give me relationship advice.

"Hirano Miroku speaking!"

"Oh, thank the gods. Miroku, It's Kagome."

"Really?"

"Um, yeah….why?"

"Oh, sorry, it's nothing! It's just, I was just thinking about you, so when I heard your voice I was a little surprised, that's all," he laughed a bit oddly. "So, Kagome, how've you been? How's that new job of yours? I hope I didn't put you in a torture chamber."

"I really don't want to talk about it….except I do. The job itself is OK, but I'm having this problem. Think you could help…..?"

* * *

I had just gotten off the phone with Hirano when I heard a quiet voice outside of my office, suspiciously like Higurashi's, coming suspiciously from where Higurashi's desk was. However, I dismissed it and returned to my work, milling over what Hirano had told me.

It was about five minutes later that I heard the distinctive sound of a desk drawer closing. I put aside my work and left my office. I went over to Higurashi's desk, examining it, saw nothing, so returned to my office, this time leaving the door open. Two minutes later, I heard the soft pad of feet on the carpeted floor outside and immediately followed the noises out of my office and down a hallway that lead to the break room. I

Paused next to the door, not visible to whoever was inside. When I heard a small sigh from the room I walked in quietly to a Higurashi with her back turned to me.

"Did you always snoop around your workplaces or are we at Taisho Inc. somehow special?"

She must have jumped two feet in the air. It was extremely difficult to hold back a smirk.

"Ah, well, the other companies just weren't, Ii guess you could say, of sneaky quality."

"Well if you're quite done, you should venture on home. Unless you came back for another brawling session, that is."

She flushed, but seemed to detain her anger and embarrassment.

"Ah-about that-"

"Your dreadfully sorry and will do anything to make up for it? You feel just awful about relocating my lower intestine? Please don't fire you?"

"You deserved it."

"Ah. See, there is where your logic fails you, Kagome. I did no such thing to deserve a random battering, if you could call it that."

"You were being a facetious and stuck up bastard," she almost growled the words.

"As opposed to how you think I usually am?" I had her there.

"Well, I guess you could just say it kind of built up over time."

"Right. Given to random explosions for small things that "build up". I'll be sure to write that in on your employee information."

"Look, you jerk-" she stopped mid-sentence and took a deep breath. I could see her visibly relax. "Look…" she walked up to me and bowed. "sometimes you are a little much for me to put up with, but that is my problem, not yours…" she stood up again and, to my surprise and horror, took one of my hands in both of hers. "and I'm sorry for how rudely I treated you before. Maybe we can just get over this immature little war of ours and you can just be my boss, and I'll just be your secretary? Isn't that reasonable on both of our ends?"

I was…shocked, to say the least. She said it with such sincerity in her voice and her hands held mine with sincerity, what could I be but sincere in return?

"I expect to see you on Monday, bright and early."

She nodded and dropped my hand. I turned to leave and she collected her purse.

"Oh, and Taisho?" she called after me. I turned my head slightly to acknowledge her.

"Please excuse me, but I don't believe that we are intimate enough to be on a first name basis quite yet."

She left, a small bounce in her walk.

What the hell was she talking-oh, shit.

And that was just the end of he weekend. Like I said, Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday were the apocalypse staged as a play within Taisho Inc. But that will come later.

* * *

AN: So, this took and awfully long time for me to start writing. And it was so short! But I promise to start working on chapter 6 right away! Heh heh. I was actually supposed to work on Special Circumstances, but I need to work on a more uplifting story right now. Please tell me what you think!


	6. Chapter 6

AN: Sorry it took so long…

IT's not SaNe

ChaptEr 6

If I had been embarrassed, out of control, and angry on Sunday, it was nothing compared to what would come. Over the next week I would not only be embarrassed, out of control, and extremely angry, but also thoroughly confused. Ah, adding more and more qualities to my resume already! With this much variation and experience in emotional instability, who would ever refuse to hire me? That was left to be seen…

I got up early the next morning. Completely against my will, but I got up nonetheless; may the power of routine compel you! Ha. Compel isn't in the Monday morning second edition dictionary. That would be unethical and immoral to all that rise at six to prepare for work in an office. At a desk. Answering phones, taking messages, scheduling conferences, all for an asshole. All day. Six days a week. Not that I'm complaining or anything.

Actually, my high school and college friends had all known me to be a happy and very optimistic person, hardly letting anything bring me down, stubborn only when it came to getting things done, always trying my best. Somewhere along the line, puberty set in and-bam!- I became what I am now: a happy, sarcastic, stubborn woman who stills tries hard, but not for the same reasons. It's funny how when you're a kid you will do things, often difficult things, for simple reasons, like just wanting to do well and please others, then as you grow older, you start to think about other, more pressing reasons behind doing something. Like payment and survival. Motives always change with time. With experiences.

Innocence lost. I am no scholar or philosopher, but it seems to me that innocence is that special, small period of time in life when you care more about others than yourself. When you may not want to share that new Barbie, but you'll do anything to make your little cousin stop crying when they're hurt. When we don't know what the world has planned for us yet. In other words, to me it seems that innocence is ignorance. And ignorance is bliss. But once you are aware, ignorance is lost, along with innocence and bliss. Innocence lost is innocence lost forever. Never comes back (unlike a bad boyfriend) which means that the unique happiness one can only enjoy when they are unaware of all the evils in the world, that supreme happiness, can never happen again. In other words, if you're looking for true happiness when you're forty-one, you're not going to find it. To put it frankly, you are, as Inuyasha would say, fucked.

Oh hell, I'm getting far too philosophical for my tastes, what's wrong with me… I'm starting to ramble like grandpa, I thought while staring at a blank computer screen on my desk. My head hurt. Philosophy should also be kept out of the range of mornings. I downed a cup of coffee with the speed to put Mario to shame, cringing as I felt my taste buds fry. About fifteen minutes later and the headache was gone. Ah, coffee should be in the very front of the legal morning vocabulary, right after cat naps and concentration (or lack thereof). Heh. I could see it now- the Preliminary Kadokawa Dictionary of Appropriate Morning Lingo. I could be famous.

"Higurashi, do not think that your arriving late to work escaped my attention," Taisho said, after following an elderly business man in a sharp suit out of his office at the end of a meeting.

More words excluded from morning use or exposure to in the morning hours: asshole, boss, and Taisho.

"Forgive me, Taisho-san," I bowed as the businessman came near. "I will remember to tell the children crossing the street next time to hurry or I may be late by four minutes. I am sure they will understand if I just hit a few of them in the name of Taisho Inc. Their families could easily be compensated for their difficulties," I bowed deeply once more. The fact that I don't drive to work, that I don't even have a car, need not be known.

The businessman barely hid a smile as he walked past. I liked him. Guess I wasn't the only one that figured Taisho could use a good muscle relaxant or sedative. An elephant tranquilizer or two should do the trick.

I smiled smugly to myself while Taisho moved on to show the businessman to the elevator. Must be someone important, I thought absently. Good, I'd gotten Taisho in front of a worthy investor most likely. Victory. Taisho walked back in, a look on his face that stated something angry, mean, and psychopath in nature. I felt myself physically shrink behind my desk. Defeat. He strode over, his face slowly clearing. That was something about Taisho. I would take flagrant anger over his masked face anytime. When he doesn't show anything is when it's the worst. It's always worse when it seems better.

He walked over lightly, setting his hands on my desk and leaning on it.

"Are you aware of whom that was that you just embarrassed me in front of?" he said in a smooth, almost friendly tone. 'Oh' and 'Shit' were the first two words to pop up in my mind. However, I straightened up in my chair.

"Hopefully someone very important."

"But of course. It was none other than Mr. Saya."

"Ah. The one that you've had your eye on for buying out."

"Precisely." He leaned over my desk, looking me stonily-straight in the face. I averted my eyes, desperately trying not to see his face.

"The really big, really important one." I tried to gulp and found that my throat didn't seem to feel like moving much.

"None other."

"I-I-" I didn't know what to say. That was it, I was going to be fired, no doubt. With this realization, my determination came back. He couldn't fire me (alright, he really could but I would not leave without a fight). I gathered my determination and looked him straight in the eye, blue meeting amber brown….and was stuck. Bam, just like that, my body wouldn't move. Someone pressing the pause button on my life. You see it happen in movies, the slow motion and in those anime where flowers and bubbles highlight the background, and it seems like a load of crap until it happens to you.

Beautiful, no, gorgeous eyes. I knew I had odd eyes-blue isn't really a common color for the Japanese, if you know what I mean, but his were even more, well, unique. How could such a big jerk have such amazing eyes? Just like Inuyasha's, only richer, deeper, refined. Where Inuyasha's shined, Sesshoumaru's seemed to almost glow or radiate, the light brown tinted with flecks and streaks of gold. Like looking at an liquid amber sun captured in two orbs.

"You…? What? Do you always shut down randomly, or am I just the privileged being whom you release all of your faults around?"

"I--you have gorgeous eyes."

Quite suddenly his face filled with surprise and a hint of confusion and I realized, way too late, what I had said, part of me going into systematic shock, another part intrigued and amazed at his response. Shit. Damn. Hell. Ack! How could I have said that! I didn't even realize what I was saying! There was definitely something wrong. What the hell was my damage? I mean, I hadn't really paid any attention-I knew he was good-looking but I hadn't really examined him before and now, ack!

Taisho looked at me for a minute, no doubt watching the red paint my face right up to 104 degrees Fahrenheit, then stood back.

"Higurashi, as much as you may dream, relationships amongst colleagues are not looked well upon at Taisho Inc. They tend to cause difficulties and lack of completion in duties. Wipe the drool off your desk and schedule my next appointment."

"Um-about Mr. Saya…"

He turned, a mere tilt of the head, and walked into his office. "Congratulations. It seems that you have at least one use. You're ability to be the quintessential secretary smart-off seems to have paid off. Saya found your antics highly amusing and has agreed to think more deeply about turning over the company. Seems he found your "humor" made Taisho Inc. a little more human. Idiotic old man. "

That's what they called it at Taisho Inc.-'turning over the company'. It was a nicer way of saying 'admitted defeat and turned belly-up to the mega-corporations, to never be heard of again'. Nice, huh? Apparently the publicity apartment had said that it helped with the company's image.

"Oh, and Higurashi…did we not have an agreement about office propriety. I am to be your boss and you my secretary," he said, an almost, dare I say, tired or confused hint in his words.

I swallowed my smart remark and nodded, remembering our conversation from the weekend. I looked at him and nodded. You're right. Excuse me, it slipped my mind."

He deserved some credit for not jarring back at me with a thousand retorts that were, no doubt, aching to get out, but were stopped. He gave a tiny nod and turned back to his office door.

Why did I always feel like I wasn't getting the deeper meaning after conversations with Taisho? I felt almost…left out. Like knowing there was something very important or special that I just couldn't see. And it made me feel empty, like my body was waiting for that second meaning to come slithering back in to it, where it belonged. It also mad me frustrated. I took a deep breath and tried to recite Miroku's words of advice from the phone call I had made earlier that weekend. But something was still bothering me.

He had looked so different, so human with that small bit of confusion on his face.

* * *

"No."

"Come on, Sesshoumaru! Is this about that employee dating policy thing? Please, Kouga ended up marrying another employee! And on top of that, I'm not technically even working here, right?"

I glared at him, the bane of my existence.

"I know what it is. You're possessive about your employees, you prick. You have to keep them all under your eye. Why can't you just…lend…her for the night! It's just a ball! One night! I promise nothing will happen to Kagome!"

Well, one bane of my existence.

"No."

Plain and simple, this was my response to the most absurd question my brother's putrid little brain could rot and bubble up with.

"It's not like you two get along; you're fighting every time I walk through these doors!" A broad sweeping hand displayed my office doors in an almost ludicrous way. He looked like one of the modeling women on a game show.

I stared him straight in the eye then went back to my paperwork.

"Is that a yes?"

"No."

"Damn you, Sesshoumaru! It's just one stupid-oh! Oh! Heh heh, oh I get it now…you want her for yourself, don't you, you stubborn bastard?"

Scratch that remark about his previous question being the most criminally retarded to ever escape his mouth. This one topped them all. I stared at him.

"You do, don't you! Your silence says it all, Onii-chan. Wow, to think that after all this time, my big brother's libido is finally starting to work again. And here I thought you might be swinging from the other side of the plate. Well fine. If she's taken, I can't have her, but give me the reason."

I had no idea what he was referring to. Frankly, I was so stunned by his stupidity that I couldn't quite think straightly (something which never happened often, but seemed to be becoming more common every day).

"I need not explain myself to you."

"I won't leave you alone until you tell me-why her?"

"You are an idiot. I have told you already that she is going with me, and that is final."

"I'll ask her and see who she picks. What do you think? Handsome, friendly, outgoing, and overall more fun guy or a handsome, stiff of a jerk with no personality?" He grinned wildly, enough to put a Cheshire cat to shame, and ignite a tiny spark of uneasiness within me. The truth was, I was always one step ahead of my delinquent and damaged brother with mental capabilities, strategy and physical skill, but I realized slowly that I had no chance if it came to a social situation. I may not insult the host, but Inuyasha could insure action. Who would she rather attend a social function of eating, conversing, and dancing with? A proper man or a "fun" one? Knowing Higurashi, I was most uneasy with the answer to that question. Was my brother finally better at something than I? Did it matter? The answer was no. It didn't matter, so I would not let it.

"Because Onigumo offered to escort her. I had no other choice." I told him the truth because I just wanted him to shut his mouth and leave me to my work in peace.

"Ah, that creep. Why the hell do we even bother talking to him?"

"Because his is the only company of this kind which is powerful enough to rival mine."

"He's a pervert, womanizer, and altogether creepy sunnuva-."

"Of this I am aware."

"So you're being a body guard."

"I know not of what you refer to."

"That's why you chose her. To protect her from him. To protect your property. Underneath it all, you're really just a lonely watch dog, keeping guard over your precious employees." There was a look on Inuyasha's face that one who has suddenly reached enlightenment or the greatest epiphany of their lives would have. And satisfaction. The satisfaction of a victory lingered in his smirk. It disturbed me. My brother was getting smarter. God forbid.

"Inuyasha, I am a busy man." I grabbed his arm and pulled him to the door of my office. "I have no time to put up with your idiotic bantering when I have meetings, paperwork, and a plethora of other more worthy things to waste my time on."

"You're just mad because-"

"Like you said before, Inuyasha. You are not an employee of this company, nor do you have an appointment. Until you do, I do not wish to see your face within an inch of this floor of this building."

I shoved him out the door, closing it with a nice, solid snap behind him. I returned to my desk and skimmed over the various reports from representatives of each aspect of Taisho Inc. Why would he take such an interest in her? He'd only met her a few times, all for brief moments. Ah, the stock went down, seemed to be plummeting lately. And why did he, the impulsive, impudent little wretch that he is ask me first? Employee benefits needed to be revised. Health care providers were switched. He knew…why would he provoke me? Had she said something?

I stopped in the middle of a sentence on a report, realizing that I hadn't absorbed a single word. I was preoccupied. I was not used to being preoccupied by things other than work. This woman was trouble. 'I should just fire her', ran through my head, looking for a founded reason to happen. Unfortunately, she hadn't broken any company policies, attended work everyday if not extra, and if I fired her, she would most likely sue, not that money was an issue. Lawsuits mean lawyers and hassle. One thing I do not like is unnecessary hype. Yep, that's it. My reason for keeping her. To bad it was a shit reason…

* * *

Inuyasha had come into the office. I heard him coming, it seemed, from a mile away. My Inuyasha infiltration warning was going off crazily as I heard the whistling in the elevator at the other end of the floor. The silent pad of sneakers. I couldn't hide. No doubt, he'd want to see Taisho, and my job was to show him in. Man, my life sucked. I barricaded myself behind my computer screen and coffee mugs.

I was prepared for any snide remark, crookedly smug smile, or infuriating hinting.

"Good morning, Miss Higurashi. Is Sesshoumaru in," Inuyasha beamed a truly genuine-looking smile at me.

I was not prepared for this. I was reminded of why I fell for him so bad. He was truly handsome when he smiled with earnest. Unfortunately for him, I knew him well enough to know that his smile today was not earnest. It was sneaky. See, the thing about Inuyasha's earnest smiles are that Inuyasha is rarely earnest. Today was not occasion enough for one of those rare and valuable smiles, unless something completely unknown to me had happened, therefore, I was all over his façade and knew something was up.

"Why yes he is, Mr. Taisho. Shall I inform him that you are here," I beamed the part of the good secretary.

When in Rome, right?

"Well that would be just peachy of you, Miss Higurashi. You are very good at your job, if I might say so."

"You might. Now, let's see…." I pretended to peruse the appointment book on my desk. "And what time was your appointment with Mr. Taisho scheduled for?"

"Uh, well…"

Gotcha.

"I'm a very important person in regards to this company, Miss Higurashi, so I'm sure Sesshoumaru will understand."

"I'm sorry, but Mr. Taisho has specifically ordered that no one without a scheduled appointment may be allowed to see him. I am sorry, but he is very busy right now. If you'd like, I could schedule an appointment right now. Let's see, he should be available….can you do Thursday, the fifteenth at 9:45?"

Inuyasha looked at me incredulously.

"Thurs-"

"The fifteenth. That's not next week, but the week after."

"Uh-huh. You expect me-"

"9:45 am."

"You know, Kagome-"

Ah. I broke the little play it seemed. Inuyasha was getting mad now. When he gets mad, he loses all tact.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Taisho, but your brother is my superior and he gave me direct orders.

"Why you….ah, hell, Kagome." He took and big deep breath and his form relaxed. What the hell was this? Was he taking anger management or something? Was he learning to control himself? Maybe he really had changed.

"I'M GONNA GO IN THERE WHETHER OR NOT I HAVE A 7&#! (use your imagination) APPOINTMENT. THAT PRICK, HE THINKS HE CAN TELL EVERYONE AND ANYONE WHAT THEY CAN AND CAN'T DO!" Inuyasha stormed past my desk breathing heavily and through open Taisho's office doors.

I smiled to myself and cleared away my safeguard of papers and coffee cups to ply myself to some actual work.

It's a bit of a comfort to know some things never change.

* * *

I poured over sales reports but the numbers would not sink in. I was preoccupied. I had been for the last fifteen minutes. Why was my brother so bent on Higurashi. Was it just for the sole purpose of vexing myself, or was he actually attracted to her? It was true. As much as she bitched and argued, she was mildly attractive. Especially in that little black skirt with the small blue flowers on pink trim and the diminutive but promising slit at the back with that white blouse with matching blue flowers that revealed just enough to….fuck. Was I really just thinking that? Was there any logical reason for that train of thought to take off so quickly? Yes. The reason was: too long. The question: how long had it been since I had a good lay? Ah, that would explain why even someone of Higurashi's not especially par excellence standing may seem so tempting. Perfectly reasonable.

The telephone rang and I almost shouted at it. Perhaps I just had good intuition because when I picked up…

"Ah, hello Mr. Taisho. How are you on this fine day." Oily. Sickening. Onigumo.

"Perfectly fine until now. What do you want, Onigumo. I'm going to the ball. I will make my presence known. Your reputation will remain a mediocre quality that it is."

"Oh, now don't be so cruel, Taisho. You know my company maintains a good public opinion."

Yes, among the pimps and crack whores.

"What is it, Onigumo?

"Ah, along the lines of the aforementioned Gala, I was wondering once more about that nice little treat of a secretary you have…"

"I will be escorting her. If she comes, it will be with myself only. That is not negotiable."

"Ah, I see. Very well then. If you are so strong in your ways. By the way, how is she as a secretary? A hard worker, I presume. Does she have many great assets to attribute to your company?"

"She is a mediocre worker with the horrible ability to not take orders. Something that would not go well with your lack of tolerance for anything other than exactly what you want and say."

"Oh, to the contrary, Sesshoumaru. I prefer women who don't know how to behave." His voice was ten times worse than any politician I had heard. It promised illegal and slippery things, and I would have none of it. "But, be that as it may, she is your employee. I look forward to seeing you at the ball. Please dress to your best, Sesshoumaru."

"I told you before that I will never be on a level low enough for you to call me by my first name. I do not give warnings out freely." I hung up the receiver with a satisfying click.

Then I picked it up again. A sucrose-sweet voice answered. "Yes?"

"Higurashi, I need to see you in my office." I hung up, slightly disturbed by her good-natured greeting on the phone. Someway, somehow, my office building had become the main setting for a sickening soap opera. And I did not like that.

"Hahah. Who would have thought? Wow, my brother! That's an interesting twist," I wasn't surprised when Inuyasha was pushed forcefully from Taisho's office, but I wasn't expecting him to be beaming so much as he was. I thought Taisho was going to put him in his place, but instead Inuyasha marched over to my desk, grinning from ear to ear.

"You don't know what you're getting into Kagome. Oh man, you just don't know." He started laughing and walked off down the hall.

The way he said it for some reason made me blush instantly. Was he raving mad? What was with the way he had said that? Had he finally, really, gone off his nut? Or was there something that I didn't know. Somehow, I felt uneasy. Like something bad was going to happen, or something that I really wasn't going to like.

Inuyasha, through all his stupidity, was winning that match.

* * *

"Hirano Miroku speaking. What can I do for you?

"Hello Mr. Hirano. This is Onigumo Naraku."

"Oh-uh-Mr. Onigumo. What brings you to calling me?"

"I have recently discovered that Taisho has hired a new secretary. But there is something about her. Something about their relationship. I would very much like to know about the sudden hiring of Higurashi Kagome. Just the little details, you know. Nothing large, just her relatives and place of dwelling. Would you be willing to help me?"

"Well, you see, Taisho is my current employer and, well, he doesn't seem to be in very much agreement with you lately, Mr. Onigumo. I'm sorry, but I will not be able to help you in this case."

"Are you positive, Mr. Hirano? I would be willing to endorse your research amply if you would assist me in this little task. Favors are always immensely appreciated by myself and returned fully in kind."

* * *

AN: Well, that's pretty short for the ages that it's been since I've posted anything. I'm so sorry. Please forgive me! But I hope this was Ok. I know it's not adequate, but I will try my hardest to post more. I've been super busy with finals and graduation stuff, but I will try. Please review, if any of you even read this story anymore…--;;;


	7. Chapter 7

AN: Wow, it's great to know that people still love me after being gone for so long

Now, onward ho! BTW, sorry this took so long. I moved to NY, had college orientation, went on vacation to Mauii, went on a Tactics, X, Mirage of Blade, Trinity Blood, and Kyou Kara Maou watching spree, got obsessed with Tokyo Babylon's Subaru, and there you have it. I know, best excuses in the world, aren't they! I think so.

"I'm mad, you're mad, we're all mad here."

Cheshire Cat, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

it'S NoT SanE

CHapTer 7

It only took one word to ruin my day.

"Higurashi!"

Funny that the said word was my own name. It's probably not a good thing when your name spells out IMMINENT DOOM in nice, two-tone letters. Mama used to always say that, "it's not what you say, but how you say it." Boy, is that true. See, people like Mama and my friends can say my name and have it sound perfectly normal or even make it have a nice little chime to it, but people like Taisho can make it sound like a made-to-order personalized death knell.

I peaked around the corner, only letting the top half of my head show, squeaked out a pitiful "Yes?", realized how pathetic I was, and walked as gracefully into his office as possible, until I tripped on a gigantic platinum stapler lying a foot or so away from the small waste bin. Piece of info: 'trash can' is the phrase used more often for the bigger, clunkier, uglier things that one puts rotten yard clippings in while 'waste bin' is the phrase used by stuck-ups for the smaller, more high class things that they throw their Chanel bags into. Helpful hint, 'waste bin' or 'trash can', a toe is impartial when it comes into heavy contact with one; they both hurt like hell.

Question number one. "Why the hell is your waste basket so heavy?"

"It's made of stainless steel and platinum."

Ah. Of course. Question two. "Why is there a stapler lying on the floor?"

"…"

Question three. "Why is there a stainless steel and platinum waste basket with a platinum stapler lying right next to it in the middle, not the edge of or even the semi-brink, but the very middle, of your office floor?"

"I wanted to see how loud of a sound the stapler would make when hitting the bin from this far away. I was hoping it would make a sort of satisfying crunching sound. Alas, it didn't, but your bones will if you don't sit down in that chair within the period of two seconds," he said pointing to a seat before his desk.

Amazingly enough, I was still far too captivated by the whole waste bin episode to notice the foul look on his face for at least thirty seconds. Then-bam!-my brain went into overdrive to make up the lost time.

"Oh shit! I swear it wasn't me! That Sha-whatever woman said that she'd always wanted a non-disposable coffee filter! I swear! And I only took some of the sugar packets to finish a recipe! I promise I'll replace them, I just-"

"Even if that does explain why my coffee has been so distasteful as of late… Higurashi, what the hell are you blabbering on about?"

I blinked once and realized I was retarded.

"Right. Well." Tad embarrassing. "What was it you needed?"

"Besides reparations for a coffee filter?" His raised his eyebrows calmly, in feint surprise, "To warn you."

"I sincerely doubt you mean about the hazards of caffeine?"

"The gala that is coming up. You remember that you are accompanying me?"

"I remember that I was volunteered against my will for a nice little slice-off-hell evening. Can't seem to get away from the fact. "

Taisho brushed aside my little comment, meaning this was an important topic and I had best listen. Which made me automatically bored.

"The man that owns the company, Onigumo-"

"Right, the oily-voiced-but-not-bad-looking-except-for-the-evil-eyes man. I think I met him before, and I remember patching through his calls."

"Right, we'll talk about that call-patching later. Onigumo seems to have taken a bit of a liking to you. He's being inquisitive and in Onigumo's terms, that means trouble."

"Wow, a guy who is the head of a major company is inquisitive about me?" I perked up. Mom, maybe I can get you that new washer and dryer after all. What? You bought that new Corvette just for me? You shouldn't have, no really! I already liked the blue one so much! Then I remembered the scumbag feeling that trailed the man.

"He is a notorious womanizer. He finds pleasure in picking women up as fast as he throws them away."

My eyes lit up with my devilish ideas.

"Oh, Taisho!" I held up a hand in front of my face and made a look of surprise. "Are you worried about my well being? Is that concern for my welfare I hear. Please tell me it's true!" I put my hand to my head and clutched my chest, batting my eyes.

"Don't go on, Higurashi. What I meant was, he has been known to coax people into doing what he pleases. He may see that you are a newly-hired and attempt to use you to 'infiltrate'-of-sorts, my company. I can not have that."

Somehow, this made me feel a little let down, even though I had just been joking about it. But mostly it just made me feel totally pissed. There were two ways to assess this situation.

1.)The jerk was so egotistical that when a competitor tried to pick up on an employee, he thought the only reasonable explanation was that the said competitor was trying to infiltrate the company! Freud! Oh, Freud! I found Super Ego! He was hiding behind Mr. Taisho's desk again!

2.)Either that, or he found me so ugly and detestable and sexiness-less that he thought there was no other reason for another man to hit on me.

Conclusion: Taisho was probably the epitome of Super Ego and he found me completely sexiness-less, which only furthered his Super Ego-ness because the only reason he probably found me sexiness-less was because the only person he could truly find sexy was himself, whom he probably stared at wistfully in the bathroom mirror for twenty minutes everyday before leaving for work. I know it's too kind, but I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. Not that he isn't hot and extremely sexy in that firm, tall, handsome way, but really!

"What! Are you saying that my well-being means less than 'infiltration of your company'! Oh, yeah, who cares if Higurashi is picked up and dropped like a Hot Pocket if Taisho Inc. maintains its standing! She's just a lowly secretary! Just another 'employed' on the company pay roll. I think I'll start a union! Oh, wait, I'm just a worker! It's us workers who keep places like this running! Hah! You are the lowest-"

"Higurashi, if you please…" he rubbed the ridge of his nose and dropped his head forward, looking quite annoyed or worn out. "It was a mere joke. A hyperbole. You of all people should understand that. As much as I would love to bicker and argue about this topic, I really do not have the spare time nor energy to do so. Just find something decent to wear. I will pick you up that night. Now go back to work and try not to disturb every particle in the atmosphere while you do so."

Oh.

I merely snorted, huffing my shoulders and I turned to walk out.

"Oh, Higurashi."

I turned slightly in the doorway. Just wishing he would say something very inexcusable so that I could have a good reason to hurl that shiny platinum stapler at his face.

"Have you ever been acquainted with Inuyasha before your meeting him here?"

That would do, except he didn't know it was inexcusable. Damn.

Part of me was wondering how fast I could reach the stapler, hurl it, and bail out of there. The more logical part took over though, and I turned part of my face back to look at him.

I didn't trust myself to pull off a whole poker face. My heart beat tripled and decided to have a trampoline contest with my lungs. I did my best to plaster on an annoyed grimace.

"I don't know. If I had, I'm sure I would have remembered him. There's only a few circumstances where I wouldn't, and those would include nice big doses of hard alcohol, and I may be wrong, but your brother strikes me as more of a beer type," Taisho's eyebrows raised just a millimeter in surprise or humor, "Why?"

"No reason. Go schedule my Saya appointment."

"Right." I felt so relieved that he didn't ask more, that I left without a single protest.

* * *

"Hello?"

"Ah! Kagome! I'm glad I caught you!"

"Hi Miroku, what's up? And no, I will not go out with you."

"…Oh, Kagome, you're so judgmental. What about just a coffee?"

"No way, we tried that once before, remember? I left mad and you left with my fingerprints engraved in your cheek."

"Of course, how could I forget? Your right thumb has a marvelous spiral to the left. Splendid evening. But, that's not the reason I called. How's work going?"

"I remember to think at least once a day that you are the one responsible for my torture and agony."

"But the pay is great, isn't it?"

"Well…"

" See? Did your friend help you, or didn't he? How's Sesshoumaru been? No weird situations or anything, right? Nothing strange? Secretarial position sometimes get the weirdest stuff. But that's why I looked you up, I knew you'd handle things well.

"Yeah, thanks. And no, everything's been fine, I guess. The insults still fly, but it wouldn't be the same job without them."

Well it's better than a kick in the head, right.?"

"Actually…"

"…OK, forget that. Actually, I did call to see if you wanted to go get a cup of coffee. I'm near that little shop you love. I just got off work and I could use the stimulation after taking public relation and customer service calls all day. You'd be amazed at problems people get themselves into with our products. Hmm…come to think of it, I didn't think you could squeeze the T349 Super into a spot like-"

"Right! That's plenty, thanks!"

"Just as friends then?"

"I'd love to, but I was going to go shopping for a dress to wear to Onigumo's company gala. Sorry."

"Oh, I didn't know you were going to the gala. That's wonderful! I am going also. If I'd known, I would have asked you to accompany me right away. Who's the completely unfairly lucky man escorting you?"

"None other than the slave-driver himself."

"……."

"I know. He basically volunteered me for it a long time ago. Didn't even ask me, just told me I was going with him just because he doesn't want Onigumo to lay a hand on his employees. Possessive little…"

"Ahem."

"Sorry."

" Anyways, shopping sounds splendid. I could help you out! Give you a male perspective on each little black dress that-"

"Yeah, you'd like to get a certain perspective on my dress, wouldn't you. Sorry Miroku, this is a woman-only shopping spree. Go flip through your little black book and call me again later."

"Alright. If you say so, Kagome, but just to let you know, the offer still stands and my cell phone will most definitely be on should you change your mind."

"Right, should I change my mind. Thanks, Miroku. Bye."

I hung up the phone and headed out the door.

* * *

I must admit, I splurged a little. Just a tad though. It'd been so long since I had owned something nice to clothe myself in. The only little black dress in my house was on a Nightclub Malibu Barbie that was in my closet, never to be opened or even found again. I just wasn't that type of girl.

Don't get me wrong, I love dressing up fancily, hell, I just love dressing up. However, I was never a really girly girl. I love dressing up, but I love dressing up to dress up, not to look nice. Quite frankly, I love costumes. I'm sure a shrink could examine that, but he'd have much better things to speculate on about me. Like my 'even fetish'. For instance, if I tickle my left arm, I have to tickle my right also, or I feel 'unbalanced'. Weird, I know. But most definitely not the weirdest.

But anyways, as I was saying, I splurged on the outfit a bit. Well-fitting yet elegant black dress: $285-but it's a very expensive brand and I practically stole it, not to mention, it brings out my lacking curves. $100 black stilettos: OK, normally I would be caught it those types of shoes considering my balance is less than desirable, but I could actually walk in these things and they'd look good with half my work wardrobe. $89 purse-what woman can be without a purse? A dead one, that's what. And earings. Pretty ones. Very pretty ones. And pretty expensive ones. I splurged. But boy, did I have fun shopping.

"Hmm…no, not that one. Too bulgy on your frame."

"I agree, she needs something more fitted."

"But I like the ways this one hangs on her shoulders."

"Yeah, but see, the butt looks baggy."

"Yeah, I see that now."

Then, simultaneously, three voices shouted, "Next one!"

Somehow, Kagome had managed to get three of the female store clerks as Dress Judges. Though a bit embarrassing, it was very helpful, especially when (after trying on about twenty-five different ones), they helped her find the perfect dress.

"Oh, definitely! Not too long, not too short."

"Yes, definitely this one! Makes her curves stand out nicely."

"It's perfect on her! Adds a wonderful touch of elegance!"

Then, simultaneously again, "We must find her shoes!"

That was how it had happened. But I was glad, her three helpers had most definitely found her a wonderful ensemble, and I actually felt like I looked good for once. A great outfit can do that to a girl. I made a note to balance my expenses differently, definitely more money for shopping, definitely.

When I got home, I hung the dress up carefully and didn't dare take the shoes out of their box. Somehow, I felt a lot lighter. I realized that I'd been way too stressed lately, understand why. Normally, my natural response would be: that jerk Taisho, but I'd never actually had problems handling him. Sure, he got on my nerves a lot, and I mean a lot, but usually it didn't affect my life outside of the workday.

I stretch out a bit and decided to go on a jog. As much as I found getting out to exercise a pain, I always felt better afterwards. Plus, I'd been putting on the pounds since I'd been working at Taisho Inc. Probably the overtime.

I put on my grunge clothes-an old tank top and exercise shorts, grabbed my keys, and headed out. I decided to run to the nearby park. Even though I didn't like running in the street on the way there, once I got to the park, it was the perfect place to jog by myself. I liked to run by the pond and through the trees where it was shady and green.

I ran down my street and two others, into the 'shopping district' (the street with the grocery, book, and clothes stores), I jogged slowly past mothers pulling their ice cream-slurping children and fathers on their way home or to pick up their children. I rounded a corner to the intersection of Sumeragi Avenue and Sakurazukamori Way, making sure to gaze at the beautiful cherry blossoms that lined the streets. They were always amazing when they bloomed. My attention shifted to some younger children who were walking down the street, singing some new pop song at the top of their lungs. I rounded another corner, smiling to myself, that is, until I had a heart attack.

"Kagome! Kagome! I mean, ahem, Miss Higurashi!" I could hear the sarcasm in the voice, and squirmed, but turned to greet a beaming Inuyasha.

"Hello, Inuyasha. What are you doing here?"

"Just thought I'd try shopping in some of these more local stores."

"I see. Your designer suits boring you?"

"Not at all, just wanted a change of scenery. How 'bout you?"

"I'm jogging."

"I could see that."

"Then…I better be going. I got my heart rate up and I don't want it to slow down, you know."

"Right. I didn't know I could still get your heart rate up."

I turned and started to jog away.

"Inuyasha, you can't get anything up anymore." I yelled back over my shoulder.

"Hey, Kagome! Kagome!"

I ignored him, continuing to my close goal of the park. I jogged a bit faster. I couldn't hear Inuyasha's voice anymore.

"Hey….huff….Kagome…huff…"

"Yaaaghhh!" is what I screamed before skidding to a stop.

"Ah…thank God…I didn't…huff…think…you'd…stop…huff…" Inuyasha crumbled to a stop and said in panting breaths, doubled over in his tailored suit. It was actually kind of reassuring and funny to see him like that. "So, what do you say, since I killed myself trying to catch up to you, that we go get a cup of tea or a juice or something?"

I looked at him incredulously. Apparently he saw my questioning look.

"Just a drink between old friends. Nothing meant by it. Just want to talk."

I looked at him, even more incredulously than before, but he looked up at me, hands on his knees, sucking in air, his eyes clear and warm, a smile on his face. I couldn't help it. I saw him sitting next to me in a restaurant, laughing at some stupid joke a friend told him, smiling as he held me up and my skis slid out from beneath me, chuckling as I threw a pillow at him, and I wanted that. I wanted it to be how it had been before. But I knew better. I knew it was stupid and bad for both of us, for me to think that. I cleared my head. I looked at him.

"Be careful, you don't want to ruin a perfectly good suit by running in it."

"Don't worry, I've had this thing tailored so well that it's like a second skin," he smiled at me and stood up. "Great. I know this place that sells the best tea drinks."

It was very warm out and a free drink didn't sound so bad. I let him take me.

* * *

...I had a headache again. It wasn't that late, there will still a few other straggling employees in the office, but I gathered my briefcase and coat, deciding to go home a bit early. After all, I was the owner of the company, I could do as I pleased and not have to report to anyone. In fact, I could have technically never come to work, but I refused to let the company run without my attention and guidance. After all, I had learned over a period of time, that the best way to have something done the right way was to do it yourself. But today, I decided to retire early, and popped a few aspirin before heading out of the building.

I passed the lobby secretary who bowed goodbye to me, a confused and slightly nervous look on her face, and I thought about Higurashi's response to my questioning earlier that day. She had stopped dead when I had asked about Inuyasha and refused to face me completely. Either she was so puzzled, she didn't know how to react, or she was hiding something. Not that it truly mattered. If she knew my brother before hand, it really had no impact on anything. Not the company, and as long as her work remained of high quality, it mattered not who she knew. Yet, I wondered, if she had known Inuyasha, why hadn't she said anything of him? Did they dislike each other? Were they friends who had a falling-out? Yes, those would seem the most logical explanations.

Or could it be the exact opposite? Was she hiding something bigger from me? People often as if they had aversions for each other when in fact, they were in love or obsessed. It was a game I had seen boys and girls play since grade school. Now that I thought about it, they seemed to have an underlying connection between them and Higurashi was always uncomfortable in his presence. Maybe Inuyasha had hit on her and she had refused? Or maybe he had asked her out and she had accepted.

I walked out of the office and toward the nearby parking garage , keys in hand, ready to go home an attempt to have a good night's sleep, though I knew it wouldn't happen. I looked up. The cherry blossoms were in bloom. Hadn't it just been winter? I turned to enter the garage then decided perhaps a drink at the bar a few blocks over would help my nerves. I turned and continued down the street, only to have the breath pounded from my lungs as someone rammed into my chest. My keys went flying and something was painfully searing the whole front of my chest.

"Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry! I wasn't paying attention and-" it was a woman and she was staring at my chest and I realized that the reason it was burning was because when she had knocked into me, a cup of hot tea she was carrying has dumped its entire contents down my front. She had pulled out a handkerchief and was moving to dab the tea from my shirt.

"It's fine," I grumbled, my headache intensified.

"I'm so sorry-it's just-I-"

"I said it's fine!" I grabbed her hand before she could start to soak up the tea.

"Oh," she said, pulling her hand back. "Look, I'm sorry, if I can make it up, I--TAISHO!"

I cringed, my head pounding. It was like having a hangover on top of a hangover with her around. It was Higurashi. Of course. What other human being on the planet of Earth could possible want to disrupt my life?

"Higurashi, if you're quite done dumping hot liquid concoctions onto your boss, he'll be going now."

"Hey, I'm sorry-I just."

"I said forget it, Higurashi. Shit."

"What's wrong?"

"My keys. They fell out of my hands when you crashed into me," I said, gingerly touching my searing chest.

Higurashi scowled, then did something I didn't expect. She bent down to the ground, scanning it.

"Look, I'll help you find your keys, then you're coming to my apartment and I'll give you something for the burns."

"The last thing I want right now is-"

"Don't be stubborn, Taisho. For once in your life, let someone else do something for you, of their own free will. I only live a few blocks over. Now, let's find those keys of yours. Wouldn't want your Mercedes to be stranded."

"It's a Porsche, I'll have you know."

Then she smiled up at me. She actually let out a small laugh, though it may have been a critical one, she laughed. And I realized that her eyes showed everything about her. The dark blue, scornful hue, and the light, blue of caring mixed with a disturbing pale gray of unease clashed together and shown. Not astounding, not especially gorgeous, just truthful and willing. I sighed and relinquished.

"Very well, but you will be reprimanded for this more once I get rid of this foul headache."

"I wouldn't expect less from you, Mr. Taisho," she sighed and continued to scour the nearby bushes. "You know, I've always wanted a classic Porsche. A friend of the family used to own one and I adored it. It was beautiful, but I never did get to ride in it…" she rambled on like so until we found the keys, five minutes later, under an especially prickly bush. I pocketed them.

"Right, we've retrieved the keys, now come on. I'll get you some antiseptic cream and bandages," and, without even realizing, I was being led by the arm towards the supposed direction of Higurashi's residence.

How was it that this woman could make my everyday life such an uncertain hell, then jump in and expect to be the angel?

* * *

...AN:Well, that took For. Freaking. Ever. But you know my excuses. Gomen nasai! Shitsure shimasu! Anyways, this chapter, for how long it took, wasn't actually that great, though it was a bit longer than the others. But that's ok. Next chapter, I have some exciting things planned out. By the way, did any of you catch the references to another manga? If not, you might next chapter, when I borrow some more from it.

Well, please review. Constructive criticism is always loved. Tchao 'till next chapter (which will be sooner!). BTW, you can contact me whenever you wish. I now have a live journal. http: Feel free contact me!


	8. Chapter 8

AN: After, what…two or three years?...I'm back to finish this damn story. I've been nice and busy at college and have traded in fanfiction for original fiction and a bunch of art. I really do feel that fanfiction has made me into the bit of a writer (if you can call me that) that I am now and, since I'm sitting in a hotel room in Spain at the moment (I'm doing study abroad in Europe this semester!) I thought I would at least make an attempt to finish this story. Also, I've been getting reviews for it lately with people asking, "what the hell, man?". So, I will try to pick up were I left off and finish INS. No promises, though. Thanks to all those that still read my old crap. I really hope I can still do this…

"This is either brilliant or insane."

"It's remarkable how often the two coincide."

-Pirates of the Carribean, Curse of the Black Pearl.

IT's not sANE

chAPTer 8

There are many, many uncomfortable topics that can come up in conversation with someone that you really haven't seen much of in years. Such as, "Are you having a girl or a boy?...Oh, haha, well, I guess your mother-in-law's food likes you too!" or "Wow…last time I heard, you were doing great. I'm really sorry about the multiple divorces, parental deaths, bankruptcy, lost pets, IRS stake-outs, and horridly obvious hair-loss. I guess when it rains, it pours, eh?"

It was no different with Inuyahsa.

"YOU WHAT?!!"

Have you ever seen a cold tea drink fly up off a table- I mean, really fly- in a high arch, slow motion? It's very slow-motion-y and high arch-y. And the whole time, you're thinking "this is going to be bad when it lands on my shorts" and "why the fuck didn't the fucker tell me about her before?" Well, maybe not the second bit, but you get the idea. Anyways, the point is, you see it happening, know it's going to suck, and can't do anything about it. All you can do is curse colorfully then curse the full Crayola-64-colors-box-worth of curses because the fucker didn't tell you about her before. Or because the tea will probably stain, whichever.

"Look, I wanted to be honest and lay everything out on the table, Kagome. I wanted to tell you. I thought you had the right to know. I know it's really late, but I want us to be on good terms."

Inuyasha, to his credit, looked pathetically sad, upset, disappointed with himself, ashamed, and was using the best puppy dog eyes for a full-grown man I had ever seen. There's just something about him that reeks "loyal puppy" until you figure out that it's more "dig-up-holes-in-the-yard, tear-up-the-furniture, and-piss-all-over-the-place-while-he's-at-it-puppy". Anyways, the point is, he looked downright shitty and that helped a little. A little little. Like a bit of a tad of a smidgeon of a microbe little.

I, for my part, was doing my best impression of a fish out of water that had just been bludgeoned over the head and told "Okay, it's time to walk now. What's your damage? Go on, evolve. Higher understanding and all that, y'know? It'll be easier when your brain gets bigger than the size of a pea. I think."

Inuyasha looked at me sheepishly. "You've got tea on you," he handed me a handkerchief out of his so-nicely-tailored suit that I was getting ready to hurl on.

"Oh," I said intelligently. I took hold of my brain for long enough to take the handkerchief and dabbed at my skirt. Then, in my politest of voices, being sure to take into account our surroundings:

"What the FUCK were you thinking?"

"Like I said, I really tried telling you. I thought you'd leave. I didn't want you to leave."

"Oh," I said, because I really didn't know what else I could say that wouldn't start an all-out riot.

Inuyasha ordered me another cup of tea, hot this time, and I left with it. "I need to think about some stuff," I declared and marched off, full speed ahead, down the road, not caring if I walked right off a cliff.

And I might as well have, because, not long after leaving, I stormed right into a person, spilling tea all over him. Possibly the last person I wanted to see at the moment, excluding the complete dolt and jerk I just left. A person who just so happened to be my boss, the brother of the complete dolt and jerk that I had just left, and quite a jerk himself.

I will be reincarnated as a cockroach, I thought unhappily. Because someone up above obviously did not like me.

* * *

"Here, take a seat and I'll get my first aid box. Oh, and you can put your shirt in the wash if you want. It'll take an hour though, to wash and dry." However, as soon as she was finished saying this, I felt a draft on my burned skin and looked down to discover that she already had my shirt unbuttoned. How the hell did she do that? There was only one answer. She was Lucifer reincarnated in the body of a young, Japanese corporate secretary. It seemed the only plausible explanation to me. Either that, or she had had a lot of practice, which seemed highly unlikely. However, that did not detract from the attention I paid her as she carelessly slipped off my shirt with warm, sure hands that may or may not have felt a little good, and disappeared with it into the unknown, dark, and probably girly, depths of her apartment. I shuddered.

I, unhappily, made my way to Higurashi's navy blue couch that was complete with tasteful, but glaringly mismatched pillows. At least it was comfortable. I probably sank a foot into it. However, my mind was not on couches at the moment. There were mistakes. Mistakes all made by Higurashi. Prologue mistake: Entering my life. Mistake 1. Scalding tea spilt onto my shirt and flesh beneath it, which was smarting like a bastard. 2. Dragging me back to her apartment, insisting on fixing the situation which could only be made better if she left my life, changed her name, became a hooker in downtown Las Vegas, and left me a competent, likeable secretary in her place while doing so. 3. She was going to try to fix what she'd done. With bandages. By the time she was through with me, no doubt, I would need someone with a psychology doctorate to fix the damage she would do by fixing the damage. 4. She offered to wash my shirt. She offered to wash my shirt. Subproblem 4a. In order to wash this Armani shirt, I would have to take it off (complete-done for me, while I was dying inside). And unless Kagome had some great-uncle who liked to leave clothes at her house, there would be nothing to take its place (complete- she had not yet returned with substitute clothing). Somehow, I knew being exposed in front of Kagome would only cause me pain in the future, and an unlimited supply of snarky comments from her (yet to, but guaranteed to come). Subproblem 4b. (and possibly the most important of all). My shirt was obviously dry clean only. Note to self: new secretary. Preferably without wit or a washer.

So while my mind caught up after the whole shirt-disappearing-act and I realized I was behind the game, and quite possibly going insane, I listened vaguely to the rummaging sounds coming from the Kagome Cave in the hallway. She appeared suddenly and I wondered if secretaries were being trained in ninja arts nowadays. She was never so inconspicuous at work, but perhaps she was still getting a feel for the terrain.

"I found the band aids and cream," she declared in victory. Obviously, the Kagome Cave had won the battle. Her hair was falling out of its ponytail and I noticed an odd, brown stain on her shorts. "Oh, and here's a towel to put around your shoulders. Sorry I don't have any shirts big enough for you."

I reached for the first aid kit and she pulled it away.

"Can you really fix it yourself," she asked, genuinely concerned, it appeared. "I mean, it won't hurt?"

I goggled at her. Quite frankly, she was freaking the shit out of me. Where the hell had Nursery Mom Kagome come from? And could I exchange her for something less likely to scare small children?

The idea of her touching my chest with those warm, caring fingers almost drove me over the edge. She must have seen me flinch at the new and improved headache I had received instantaneously, because she snapped out of Martha Stewart Mode and became a normal human being again.

"Forget it," she said curtly and shoved the box into my hands. "I'm sweaty, I need to change my shirt. Fix yourself up."

"Higurashi", I said as she headed towards the Kagome Cave. She turned and looked at me. "You've got coffee on you."

Then Kagome did something she had never done to me before. She gave me the finger. Quite energetically.

Thank god for return policies.

* * *

After putting away the med kit and checking on his shirt, I went back to the living room and plopped in the chair across from Taisho. I had to ask him. Was it true?

"Taisho, I need to ask you something."

A cool expression of surprise hinted with something else caused his left eyebrow to quirk up.

"Does your brother, Inuyasha…" I paused. This was going to seem very weird to him. There would, no doubt, be annoying, accusing questions after all, but, what the hell. "…does he have a daughter?"

For once, the surprise and shock was so apparent on his face that I almost had to catch myself before my shock gave me cardiac arrest.

"…Why is this of concern to you?"

There it was. The question. Option 1: tell the truth and possibly risk having him blow up not too many hours before you have to attend a gala with him, or risk having him eternally make fun of you at every working day. Option 2: lie to him, which is obviously, the worse option, deceiving, and was completely against my morals.

"He mentioned it and I was curious. I don't really know much about your family." So sue me. He was silent for quite a while and I didn't think he would respond, which was better than circumstances that were otherwise quite possible.

"Yes…he does. Of a sort."

Of a sort? What the hell did THAT mean?

"Sorry, but I'm not grasping how he can semi-have a child of his loins." I shouldn't have said that. Now he's going to think it's a game and get all snarky with me. He'll look at me like and idiot, then call me one.

"She's mine now."

See. I should just never have brought it up. It was stupid of me in the first----

"Say…what?"

"His daughter. She's mine now."

He must have seen the sheer look of incomprehension and intensely stupid shock somewhere around my tonsils when my jaw dropped to the floor, because he decided to enlighten me further.

"Inuyasha had her out of wedlock and after she was about half a year old, it was decided that I would care for her. Inuyasha was not capable at the time. He was still in school and the whole family decided that I would be the best caretaker, for God knows what reason. So I am formally her guardian, and as far as she knows, father."

"What about Rin, does she know about her sister?"

"It is Rin."

"Huh?"

"Inuyasha's daughter. Rin."

Ah. The daughter he had mentioned in a drunken stupor and that had later come up in conversation over coffee. Rin.

"Oh."

Silence. For a very long, long time. Silence. Decades. Millenia. Seconds, at least.

"So you…."

"Yes."

"Oh."

"Yes."

"Hm."

Well…that was certainly interesting.

* * *

Now I will be the first one to tell you that the men in my family are anything but pansies (excepting a stunt Inuyasha had pulled, going to Europe). We face the music, and do it with pride. We are an old, dignified family with much to stand for, and stand we do, even in the harshest of circumstances. That being said, I high-tailed myself out of Kagome's apartment as soon as I possibly could. Upon reflection, this was probably not a wise choice. However, hopefully she took it for horrid disgust instead of the pansy ass-ness that it was. I will be frank.

That woman scared the shit out of me. Seriously.

Not because she had a second head, or could beat the crap out of me in a fist fight, oh no, but because I could never, ever tell what the hell she was going to do next. It was obvious that she had fallen painfully head over heels for me (which may be flattering, I hadn't decided yet- by the way, why had she brought up Rin? Why had Inuyasha told her that? When had she been with Inuyasha?) but she was about as predictable as a MPD psycho.

As soon as I had gotten bandaged and shirted, I was out of that hormonal, dreamy, and far too female apartment. Why was it dreamy? Did it have stuffed unicorns on the shelves? No. It was dreamy because it was a woman's apartment. Why was it hormonal? It was a woman's apartment. Far too female? Woman's apartment. And, now, I am a strong enough man to take anything any female (almost any) can dish out, even on her own territory, but there was something that freaked the fuck out of me about Kagome's womanly apartment. Mainly that I couldn't tell it was a woman's. It was ordinary. Neat, but ordinary.

Now, logically, it was what I had expected, but from spending the past months bickering like crazy with my crazy secretary had set me up to expect, somewhere in the back of my mind, that she was of a completely different species. Something that was probably planning a hostile take over of the Earth. Knowing that she was not, indeed, a five-tongued Martian from an alternate-reality Mars was both shocking and (I must admit) a little disappointing. And it made her human. It put us on the same level (and why did she know Rin was Inuyasha's?).

Up until this point, I had always thought of Kagome as someone lower than me, which she was financially and occupationally, excepting her sharp wit which almost, almoar matched mine. Sure, I had a shred of respect for her, but she was still below me. For some reason, seeing her apartment that was plain, efficient, almost as clean as mine, and a tad homey made us equal. I have no good reasoning for it. But it shocked (not really scared) the daylights out of me. (Why had Inuyasha told her something so important?) I didn't know how to react.

"So…you ARE human. Huh. Imagine that. And here, the whole time I was waiting for you to shove your tongue down my throat and fertilize your eggs with with our mutual sarcasm."

Yeah…that would have gone over splendid. The last thing I needed right now was to have my snarky secretary with a secret crush on me, that she wouldn't admit she had, to hate me even more right before we were going to have to spend a whole night together at an event that either of us would rather commit suicide before going to. So I left her apartment with a nod. Plus, she had brought up Rin. That was…odd.

* * *

Oh shit. The gala.

I looked in the mirror, and despite the fact that I probably looked nicer than I had in five years, I was ready to vomit. Did I really have to go to this thing? Yes. Did I want to? Hell no. Did Taisho? Probably not. Did he want to go with me? Fat chance. Did I want to go with him? Uh..no. Did we want to attend a company gala of retarded formal character, put on by a greasy scum executive, with the people in our office that we couldn't tolerate? Can you ice skate in hell? That about summed up the situation.

So I stood in front of the mirror and abhorred my existence. Why did the universe hate me? Had I mass-murdered a whole google of puppies in my past life? And made slippers out of them? Because, really. I could feel my karma eroding around me. It made weird bubbling noises as it died.

As I stood contemplating the cruel workings of the world and hating myself and my selfish boss, an annoying thought kept popping into my head over and over again:

Does this dress make me look fat?

* * *

AN: So yeah, it's really short, I know. But give me a little while to get back into the fanfic grove. If anybody reads this, please review and tell me how it compares to the rest. Have I lost my touch? Well, the story isn't going to be a whole lost longer. I'm guessing two, three chapters. But we've got some interesting stuff in store. I think. Peace!


	9. Chapter 9

AN: I want to thank everyone that gave me feedback. It makes me extremely happy to know that most people think I haven't lost the whole fanfic-writing thing. And thanks for even bothering to keep up with this story after so many…years. So! Quite frankly, I have NO idea what is happening this chapter besides the fact that Kagome is going to a gala, BUT onward ho!!! Oh, btw, if Kagome uses phrases and stuff that are western and it bothers you, I ask you kindly to stuff yourself.

IT'S noT sAne

cHapteR 9

"An insane person never knows they're insane. That's why you've got to worry about the sane ones. They know they're insane, and they know how to use it."

Ice sculptures, Kagome decided, were either the closest you could get to reality and life- beautiful achievements of art at its purest, or the dumbest idea ever. This was her argument. 1. Ice sculptures are hard, and cold, but beautiful and can be enjoyed as art, much like life, and eventually they fade away, disfiguring and melting back to nothingless, much like life. Therefore, ice sculptures were a perfect representation of life as it is, and artistic to boot. 2. Who in their right minds would spend heaven knows how freaking long carving something that would melt in half a night? And, even moreso, who in their right mind would pay ridiculous sums of money for a beautifully carved statue that would disappear in half a night?

Kagome was going to go with the second option. And she knew the answer to it, too. Onigumo Naraku. It didn't help that the statue was as beautiful, shallow, and deceiving as he was. At least he wasn't a water nymph baring her ample bosom to a centaur, though. Although, Kagome suspected that, if he was a water nymph, he would do just that. Then take the centaur to court and sue it for every penny possible.

However, Kagome did have to give their host some credit. He had apparently gotten his long mane cut, so the "oily" factor seemed to be taken down by half. His new 'do' looked amazing on him, if not simply for the fact that he was, in all actuality, an incredibly handsome man. He was dark, handsome, and held a promise of danger to him that made being around him enthralling. Or so it seemed, according to the way every single (or not-so-single) woman was literally hanging on him. The only consolation Kagome received when he made his way over to greet her and Taisho, unabashedly eyeing Kagome the whole way, was that Kagome's date was probably the only man in the place that was as equally or even more gorgeous. That reminded her…

As Kagome had been looking in the mirror for the twenty-seventh time, wondering why the hell she cared so much, and if the dress still made her look fat, her doorbell had rung.

"One minute," she called out. She still didn't have her jewelry on. The doorbell rang again as she was putting in an earring. "Just a second!" Then again as she was rushing to put on lipstick. And a car horn honked. It couldn't have been fifteen seconds. Kagome was pissed. Kagome stormed to the door, lipstick in hand, as another honk issued from outside.

"Oh for the love of-" she opened the door. "Holy Buddha, Amaterasu, and all that is religious in the better part of Asia!" Lights were in her eyes. Very, very bright lights.

"Jaken, turn the car off," Taisho said dismissively, the lights distinguished, and Kagome wondered how the creepy toad-man had even heard his boss from inside the car. Then she wondered at something else. Well, technically, some_one_, but, oh-wait, no, something fit just fine. Namely, Sesshoumaru. There he stood on her doorstep, wearing a black suit that fit his contour perfectly, outlining his wide shoulders and well-shaped mid region, shoes that reflected Kagome's nose perfectly, and a smirk that somehow managed to be snarky, playful, and absolutely sexy on him. Kagome was pissed.

"What the hell, Taisho? Can't go twenty seconds without honking your own horn?"

"I don't need to honk my own horn. Others do it for me. I told you to be ready to go…ten minutes ago."

"Which means you're late and I'm not ready."

"I can see that," he said, eyeing Kagome's bare feet and half-done makeup.

"Well, you can either stay there outside and wait until I'm perfectly ready, or get your ass inside. Either way, close the door. It's freezing outside and it looks like it's going to rain."

"Are you a goddess?" It was a simple question, and it stopped Kagome, mid-step. _What did he just say?_

"…What?" Kagome turned and eyed him. "What did you inject, snort, or smoke before coming here?" She gripped the open lipstick in her hand and wanted to snort.

"It's just that…" Sesshoumaru closed her front door quietly, turned, took two steps, and reached out to brush Kagome's cheek with his hand. Kagome was freaking out on the inside, somewhere, she knew it, she just couldn't figure out exactly where, and was, therefore, stuck freaking out.

Sesshoumaru leaned in closer, his breath warm on her nose. "It's just that…the weather outside..." he brought his other hand up and tilted her chin, so that they were staring straight into each others' eyes. "…this dismal weather outside….it reflects your nature so perfectly. I though you must be a goddess to control it so well."

Kagome looked at Taisho, her anger easily pushed down for once, a slight blush on her cheeks. She smiled beautifully, reached her hand up, and left an artfully curved, fat streak of lipstick across the right cheek, nose, and forehead of the most handsome man she had ever seen.

Who was cold, mean, and hard- like ice. Ice sculptures. Oh, that's right… The reason Kagome had come to hate ice sculptures so was that one of the bosoms of the well-endowed nymph had just dripped water down her back. She jumped and turned around to glare at the statue, just as Onigumo approached.

"Do you like it," his deep voice inquired, and Kagome turned back around. "The ice statue? It's a moment from a Greek myth. The centaur was in love with the nymph and would not let her be, so she begged her father, the god of the river, to help. He turned her into a beautiful tree."

"Sounds like something a father would do…" Kagome muttered under her breath, not at all surprised at Naraku's knowledge of Greek mythology. Onigumo seemed to miss that. Before she knew what was happening, he took her hand and laid his surprisingly un-greasy, soft lips on the back of it. Kagome couldn't help blushing. Any physical attention did that to her. She could take verbal fights, even fist fights any day, but a loving touch was a hard thing to handle. She turned her head to the side, so Taisho couldn't see.

"Ah, and of course, the talented president of my most deserving rival company, bristling by the beauty's side. Looking as sharp as ever, Sesshoumaru," Onigumo smiled and held out a hand.

_Hell called. They want their car salesman back _was repeating over and over in Kagome's head. Sesshoumaru, to her delight, did not take the offered hand.

"Because this is your little…fiasco," Sesshoumaru said, glancing around him, "I will ignore the fact that, once again, you referred to me by my first name when it is absolutely unappropriate. And since I do not wish for you to look like even bigger of the distgusting creature you are in front of your guests whom you have so cunningly deceived, I will not punish you at this moment for referring to me by my first name. If you do so again, however, or look as if you are going to devour my secretary one more time, I shall be required to disfigure that face which you payed so much for."

A slow, evilly curved smile rose on Onigumo's face.

"As kind and accomatdating as always, _Taisho_. I do enjoy our little chats." Onigumo turned to Kagome. "You look ravishing tonight, my dear. Your boss is a very lucky man. I do hope you enjoy my little party. I hate to leave you looking so bored with your date, but I must make the rounds, unfortunately. These things are as much business as pleasure." He gave a wickedly sexy grin and walked away.

"You know, for once, Taisho, I really admire your capability to admonish and demean any living creature on Earth." Kagome turned to look at Sesshoumaru, who was looking like he was waiting for the punch line. "No, seriously, you…"

"You…? Are you falling into that bad habit of not finishing sentences again?"

"You kinda rocked for a second there." Kagome allowed herself to give him a small smile.

Sesshoumaru stared at her oddly.

…………

I had to say, the girl had fallen for me hard. Before, she had obviously been in denial, but I knew, as soon as she praised me for my wit and gave me a small little smile, that the minx knew she was done for.

And I have to say, when she smiled (when poison wasn't dripping from her lips) it did a lot for her. She really was an attractive woman, when she put her mind to it. I had been more than a little surprised when she opened the door to her apartment, still unprepared, but on the way to looking beautiful. Well, that's what a good dress and makeup will do to a girl, I had thought at the time, but now that I thought about it, Kagome had become increasingly attractive at work, also. Was she on a diet? Going to a salon? Going to a psychologist? Mental note: check Kagome's calendar. What? I'm her boss. I have access to that sort of thing. I deserve to.

Anyways, now that the ever-pleasant formalities between myself and Naraku had been finished, it meant an almost as torturous round through all of the other company executives, chairmen, CEO, what have you. I grimaced inwardly, quirked an eyebrow, and took Kagome's arm in mine. She looked up at me, surprise etched in a firm line across her lips.

"I have to make the rounds and I'm not doing it alone. Try to look like I'm escorting you," I said in a low voice. "And for the love of everything, please don't embarrass the hell out of me in front of anyone even semi-important."

"Three weeks." She said, also in a low voice.

"Three weeks, what?"

"Three weeks extra, paid vacation."

_Fuck! _I smiled slightly at her.

"One."

"Three."

"Fine. Two. But I leave it at that. Any more than that and Jaken is sure to be murdered by myself in a most gruesome way during your leave."

"Did you just indirectly say you need me?"

"Jaken needs you." _Good. Appeal to the kind, womanly sympathies that I do not possess._

"Fine. Two weeks. But you can't call me once during them."

"I'll send you a fruit basket."

"I'll shove it up your ass."

"Good, I don't approve of fruit baskets, either. Remember, no demeaning remarks of my intelligence, crude remarks of my attitude, or revealing of my lack of sensibilities towards all other creatures".

"What about denying your manhood altogether?"

"You know that's not true. Come, let us mingle."

Kagome smiled a perfectly wonderful "Ms. Thang" smile, and took the arm I so graciously offered.

………

"I know you're an emotionless bastard, who only thinks of self-progress, money, and possibly Rin, but how the hell do you put up with this shit?"

Kagome and I were standing near the ice statue again, having made the rounds. Formalities were exchanged, politeness ensued, and Kagome had shown a sweet, demure, endearing nature which I did not know she was capable of. Almost all of the older woman, (and many of the men, although in a completely different way) approved of her gratuitously.

One former business partner had dragged me off to the side.

"I have to say, Mr. Taisho, that is one amazing woman you have with you. How long until you drop to a knee?"

I had been slightly put off and very surprised, but satisfied that Kagome played her part so well. She really was capable of handling any type of people.

So we stood, drained, by the ice sculpture, making small, periodic remarks. Having made ourselves seen, we both decided it would be better to not be seen anymore. And we did the only thing we could think of that wouldn't drive us insane at this party. We helped ourselves at the bar. The bartender was looking at us incredulously as Kagome ordered her sixth Cosmo and I ordered my eighth shot of the best vodka Onigumo could afford. I was getting difficult to read labels. Why did I always get into situations like this with Kagome? The girl could not be a good influence.

"Oh, you mean these dears? I look forward to soirees like this the most. The people are so endearing."

"I'm serious, Taisho. I give credit when it's deserved and I give you (just a little) credit. You really are good at pulling off the all-business, emotionless bastard. But maybe it's easy to act the part of something you know so well."

"Encountering a secretary like you everyday is the best training imaginable. I thank you for that."

She giggled. _What the hell?_

"Did you just giggle?"

"No."

"Fine then. Well, I have to say, thank you for not turning me into a spineless pile of sludge before my colleagues. You did surprisingly well."

"They liked me."

"They liked you. God knows why."

"I'm good at it."

"You may be good at it."

"You were thanking me."

"No."

"Fine then. You're welcome."

We stood for a while, sipping our drinks. I, for the first time I could remember, was enjoying a companies party.

"That second merger-company executive grabbed my ass."

"He what?"

"Grabbed my ass."

"When?"

"I told you they like me."

"Who was it?"

"I don't remember. The faces all kinda blur now."

"What happened to the 'well-placed kick' of yours?"

"I agreed not to compromise you."

"What happened to my foaming-at-the-mouth secretary who doesn't let anyone get the better of her? What happened to She-Ra, Zena?"

"Did you just compare me to a lesbian warrior princess?"

"I'm getting you that fruit basket."

"I'll shove it-"

"I know. Next time, tell me when something like that happens. I'll find out who it was and maybe, tomorrow morning, their stocks will all have been mysteriously bought out by a Mr. T."

Kagome laughed at that. Really laughed. The eighth cosmo in her hand was sloshing dangerously. She was covering her mouth, her eyes squinted up, laughing like hell. And I laughed, too. I didn't know why. It wasn't that funny. The nine shots of vodka may have had something to do with it, but I was laughing. I looked over at Kagome when she abruptly stopped laughing, and her hand was still covering her mouth, her eyes scrunched up, only she was a slight shade of green now.

"Bathroom. Now." She managed to squeak out.

"Right." I took her by the arm and elbowed my way through the crowd, ignoring the odd looks. The bathroom, thank heavens, was not across the other side of the ball room. Naraku had been sensitive enough to put it fairly close, in a hallway right off the giant room, and Kagome was in it before I could say 'drunk college girl'.

I sat on an ornate bench outside of the bathroom, no doubt made for men who had to wait for their dates to powder their noses. It was quiet in the hall, and I appreciated it. I could only barely her slight heaving noises emanating from the bathroom door. I sat and waited, feeling not so amazing myself.

When the noises from inside had stopped for a while and the sink could be heard running quietly, I stood next to the door and waited, just in case. Kagome came, wobbling slightly, through the door. She put a hand on my arm to steady herself.

"Are you alright to walk?" I asked, hoping she had gotten rid of all the contents in her stomach. She nodded.

"I think so. No day-hikes anywhere though, please." I sighed. If she was being her snarky self, it couldn't be too bad.

"We'll leave," I took her arm and started for the ballroom again.

"Ah. Can we just…stay here for a moment," she asked, looking a bit off-color again. I nodded. "Good. I-" And she went down. I caught her just in time, so her knees were barely off the floor.

_Ok then. What to do…what to do._ I was feeling fairly intoxicated and my mind wasn't thinking too straight, either. But I managed to pull little bits together and realized Kagome needed to lie down. The bench wasn't going to work, it was only big enough for one person to sit, and I didn't think Kagome would be much happy with me flopping her down on the floor. Asking Onigumo for help was not an option, especially in my current state. So I picked Kagome up as best as I could and headed down the hallway.

It didn't take long to nudge open a door that lead to a bedroom. I put Kagome down on the extremely well-made bed and sat down at the foot of it.

"Urghhg," Kagome said.

"I quite agree."

"Light. The light. Close the door," she pleaded, covering her eyes with her hands. I got up and closed the door.

"It's too dark…" she said intelligently.

"Which would the slopping drunk princess prefer?"

"Hnng. Dark is fine."

It was quiet, dark, and warm in the room, and Kagome, though I did not think it was the best idea, was sleeping away within seconds. I sat on the edge of the bed and kicked myself for letting us get this wasted. I folded my arms and waited. I figured, let Kagome rest for a bit, then wake her up and take her home. That was probably the best option. So I relaxed and counted by the minutes. It had probably been fifteen when Kagome spoke, surprising me more than would be cared for.

"Fun."

"What?"

"It's been fun. This party thing."

"You're drunk. Be quiet for a while."

"Yes, I think I am drunk. But this party thing" (she said this all with a little slur) "…I thought it would be absolutely horrible. It was OK though. You're not so bad."

"Hn." I stared off into the darkness of the room, able to make out a stand with a vase on it now.

"Really…" and I heard her trying to get up. I turned around quickly, ready to catch a falling drunk girl, but she was doing fairly well. She appeared to be propped up against the head board of the bed. "Ah, I can't see you. You keep moving. Come closer." Well, maybe she wasn't doing so well. I got up and moved to site next to her, though. The last think I wanted was a ranting, drunk secretary/date at a huge gala. "See? You even did that without bitching." She giggled a little bit and I was reminded of a bigger, slightly more mature Rin. Drunk inspiration hit.

"Kagome, let me tell you about Rin."

"Mm-hmm." She nodded and I relaxed against the head board, too.

"She's young. But you knew that. She has dark hair, like you, but her eyes are different. She incredibly smart and far too cute for my comfort. I worry about her everyday. She calls me everyday. That's how we work. She doesn't even ask me to call her, or send her letters. Every once in a while, I will, but really, she understands that part of me better than anyone else. And she does know."

"Does know what?" Kagome said groggily, and I was reassured by the fact that she was at least keeping up with what I said.

"She knows I'm not her real father. But she doesn't care. To her, I am. But she still treats Inuyasha wonderfully. She knows about him, but has never been mad at him. To her, he's like an uncle, the brother of her father. One time, Inuyasha told me he would take care of her from then on. I didn't even ask Rin. I rejected it flat-out. I almost punched him over a little girl that I hadn't even wanted to look at, much less take care of. And now, if I couldn't talk to her everyday, I think I'd go insane."

"Already have."

"I mean, on a mass-murdering level."

"Oh."

"She's away right now, but she's coming back home for three months soon. You should meet her, I know you'd like her. And she'd see the evil bitch in you and like you too, just like she likes me."

"Sesshoumaru?" Kagome rustled quietly. "You always talk about Rin when you're drunk."

"….I always talk about Rin when I'm drunk with you."

It was quiet for a little bit, and I stared at the vase, which I could tell had some sort of oriental pattern on it now- looked Chinese. Then I was distracted when Kagome gently slid up next to me. She leaned her head on my arm. She wouldn't' have reached my shoulder. She was warm and the heat between us was almost too hot, probably from the alcohol.

"You really love her, don't you? I mean, really. More than anyone else."

"Yes." No hesitation.

"She's lucky." Kagome turned towards me and reached up, placing her hands on either side of my face. She wavered a little, but her hands were steady, and she traced my nose and eyebrows painfully slow. I knew I should stop her, but I didn't want to. I hadn't felt a woman's hands in what seemed like years, and she felt so comfortable, my body wouldn't respond to my mind. She moved onto her knees so she was eye level with me, and one hand moved to stroke my hair.

"Your hair's soft…"

I didn't respond and she moved the hand on my face so that it was resting on my lips. Slowly, her fingers traced the outside, then ran across them. I knew I shuddered, but I didn't care. Slowly, she leaned in. Her breath smelled like alcohol, but it was warm against my face. She moved in closer to me and whispered into my ear, her breath hot.

"….Gotcha."

She giggled, swayed, and promptly passed out on my lap.

Not for the first time since I had met her, I realized I wanted to strangle her. For the third time since I had met her, I realized I needed to get laid. Really, really badly.

Kagome woke up about fifteen minutes later and I managed to shove some aspirin that I always carried with me at her.

She must have slept another hour and a half. Then she woke up and, by some means, be it a completely alternative energy resource, the best tolerance for hangover ever, or just the fact that she was a stubborn wench, she was decently capable of handling herself. She didn't sway when I helped her up, so I got her to go to the bathroom and drink some water, then decided it was time to go. I walked her to the entrance room and told her to wait while I called the car.

I shouldn't have given her the aspirin. I needed it for what happened next.

……….

I. Felt. Miserable. Thankfully, I didn't have that bad of a headache, but my stomach was doing Olympics-worthy gymnastics and my eyes were betraying me horribly.

I waited in the entrance hall as a porter gathered my coat and Sesshoumaru called for Jaken. _This couldn't get worse. I'm drunk at the party of all parties, with Sesshoumaru as my only savior._

"Hello, Miss Higurashi."

_Ok. I was wrong._

"Hello, Mr. Onigumo," I said, turning around and, to my credit, not wobbling at all.

"How has your evening been?"

"Quite pleasant, thank you." It was best to just be polite and wait for Sesshoumaru.

"That makes me more happy than you can imagine. You disappeared for a while, and I was worried that you had gotten bored."

"Oh. No…I was…outside."

"Outside?"

"Ah. Smoking. It's a nasty habit, I know." I had smoked once. In college. I never did again.

"Smoking…really? I wouldn't have pictured you smoking."

"Like a chimney!" I said, far too chipper for even myself. It was multiplying my headache. Where the _hell_ was Sesshoumaru?!

"Well, we mustn't deny ourselves what small pleasures we can get," he said, stepping closer. Was it just me or had his voice lowered to a bedroom level? I hated the man, really did, but I couldn't deny the fact that he knew how to work what he had. He was rich and disgustingly attractive. Where the _fuck _was Sesshoumaru?!

"Your date seems to have disappeared. Where did he wander off to, I wonder?" Naraku was far too close for comfort now, and I had unknowingly backed into a gorgeous Monet painting, it seemed. Shit. My brain wasn't working. Why now of all times?

"He-he went to get the car."

"He's been an awfully long time."

_For once, I completely agree with you on something!_

"Do you think, maybe, he found something more interesting?"

My brain clicked for a second there and I huffed up. What the hell did that mean? Was he saying Sesshoumaru had ditched me for one of these rich bimbos? I was pretty! I was smarter than almost all of these stick-with-boobs! I was only stinking drunk and a possibly deathly liability for Sesshoumaru! My mind did the math quickly, but I wouldn't let Naraku work me like that.

"I assure you, he knows far too well that there is _nothing_ in this house as _interesting_ as myself. If you knew me, you'd understand _exactly_. He'll be here any second." I smiled wickedly. I was tired, drunk, and didn't want anything else to do with the man in front of me for the rest of my life, even if he was extremely rich, sickeningly handsome, and apparently very into me.

"If you'd only let me, I would like nothing more than to understand _exactly_."

_Oh shit. Oh shit. What do I do? _My brain stumbled for something, anything.

"I-I--"

"Am leaving now," an all-too-welcome voice came from behind Onigumo. _Thank God!_ I gave Sesshoumaru a nasty that said we would be talking later and thanked him enormously at the same time.

"Ah, you were going to leave without telling me? You've hurt my feelings, Taisho. It's a good think I found your pretty little date, otherwise I would have missed you both completely."

"Now you know." Sesshoumaru put my coat over my shoulders and grabbed my arm. "It's been most _pleasan_, Onigumo. Now we'll be off."

"Of course," Onigumo smiled. "I must go back and see to the rest of my guests." He turned and went.

I turned and went off.

"What the hell took you so long! " I swayed, exhausted from pretending sober. I was thankful for Sesshoumaru's grip on my arm. "Do you have any idea how impossible that was!"

"It didn't look so impossible from my vantage point," he growled, pulling me towards the door. I stopped, rooted to the spot.

"What did you just say?"

"I said," his eyes narrowed at me dangerously. I realized they were somewhat out of focus. "It didn't look like you were having so hard of a time with it. You like it, don't you? Rich, powerful men bickering over a common secretary like you? Are you weighing your options, deciding which side is more beneficial?"

I swayed for a brief second, my anger overpowering my drunken state. _Who did he think he was?! He has no right to say that to me! I've done nothing but good, honest work for this man and he thinks I'm trying to take advantage of him?! Of him and his rival?!_

I took a deep breath and stood up straight. I looked him straight in the eyes, my shorter stature not mattering for the first time ever. I was bigger than him. A better person than he could ever be. I reached for his hand and held it open in mine. The look on his face was confused and angry. _He deserves it_. I reached into my coat pocket and found the separate key ring I used for work. I always carried it with me, in case of an office emergency. Slowly and deliberately, I place it in his open palm and closed him fingers over it with my other hand. I looked at him a long time, and he looked right back.

"….I quit."

I walked past him, out the door, and shouted for Jaken, who came running up like a loyal dog. The site of him disgusted me.

"Call me a cab, Jaken. I'm going home."

"But-"

"A _cab_, Jaken!!" I nearly screamed at him. He scampered away, and a taxi pulled up seconds later. I thought dimly that some people must have come in them. This made me a little happy. I got in and told the man to drive me home.

When we got there, I realized I'd left my tiny purse at the coat check-in at the gala. I told the taxi driver to wait. I paid him with the Taisho Inc. company credit card.

……………………….

AN: So! A cliffhanger! This chapter was quite a bit longer than the last, now that I'm reassured you guess don't hate it. So how was it? Too cliché? I realize that, until now, there really hasn't been too much boning, just fighting. But, for Sesshoumaru and Kagome, I think that's their way of bonding in this story. Sorry if it's weird.

Btw, the Greek myth in their was slightly altered. It's mostly true, though, from what I remember.

Well, please tell me what you think!


	10. Chapter 10

AN: So…yeah. I really have no idea how to continue this story from here on. I admit I've been putting it off (wrote the first sentence on Valentine's Day ). To be quite frank, hardly any of this story has been planned. But that's how I write. So, uh, thank you for all the comments, everyone. It's been a big help. So, with thanks to my "Sad Bastard" playlist on my ipod, and without further ado, I give you…

IT's not SAnE

cHAPter 10

I was drunk. Hammered, knackered, lush, wasted, trashed, smashed, twisted, wrecked, whatever colorful word you'd like, I was drunk. Trying to get a car from a valet who doesn't seem to understand a word of what you're telling him when it's obviously his native language is difficult enough. Throw in a half-brother demon spawn from the rankest part of hell, and it generally only makes matters worse. Generally. This was one of those generally's.

"Hey, Sesshoumaru!" I must have, I decided, committed serious homicide in my past life, and my karma was catching up to me. No doubt one of the people I killed had been Inuyasha (I had probably assumed I was doing life, the universe, and everything a favor by the act. Or I had just been really, really pissed off). And, to make me suffer further, the gods had reincarnated him as a half-brother.

"What ring of hell did you materialize from."

"Heh heh. C'mon Sesshoumaru, why the pissy face? I saw you for a minute after you came into the party. You looked like you were enjoying yourself. I guess Kagome has that effect even on an asshole like you, huh?"

Inuyasha was talking. My mind was trying to do several things at once. It was thinking that it just needed to get past Inuyasha, get Kagome, and go home. It was pondering why Inuyasha would phrase his sentence like that, like he knew Kagome just as well as I did. It was wondering if they were dating behind his back and why Kagome would date Inuyasha if she was so obviously obsessed with me. My mind was also meditating on the concept that it would be unexplainably enjoyable to disembowel Inuyasha on the spot. My mind was also mulling over the idea that all this ruminating was hurting it and it was becoming increasingly difficult to think, ponder, meditate, mull, and ruminate in these circumstances, and that it should just give up trying altogether. Ah, clarity.

"Excuse me, Inuyasha. I've got a splitting headache, a drunk secretary to take home, and you smell like horrible cologne." I pushed Inuyasha aside rather forcefully and made a straight path back for Kagome.

What I found when I got there was possibly worse than Inuyasha, albeit excluding the overly-strong cologne.

Naraku was with Kagome. No, check that, he was literally _on_ Kagome. At that moment, my brain started the whole thinking thing again, thought about at least seven different things at the same time, made a sound not much different than that of a loud 'splunk', and gave up again. I settled on being extremely pissed off. I gave a few curt, nasty remarks and was only a little pleased to see Naraku go slithering away. Then I elegantly changed from pissed to angry. It was Kagome's turn.

I knew even as I was saying it that I shouldn't. It was low and dirty of me and I was embarrassing my entire family name. Still, I couldn't stop myself once it was being said. And I wanted to believe it, for that one second, wanted to believe that my quirky, intelligent, pretty secretary was only that way because she was using me and everyone else. And at the same time, I really didn't want that. It really would be a waste. She was, I acknowledged begrudgingly, the best secretary I'd ever employed and I really didn't want to have to shame her family, dismember her, then fire her. It would be inconvenient to go back to work without her. Inconvenient, annoying, and maybe a little boring. But I was the last person on the face of the planet that would knowingly be taken advantage of (even if I really wasn't, it was her fault for making all the executives like her. Whore.) and I wasn't going to stand for it. Fired. Yes, that was the only thing to do. Fire her and never see her again. Maybe taint her name a little- no, that was unnecessary. Just fire her.

"I quit," she said

Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck.

………………

I moped. There was no other word for it. I should have been angry, pissed, ticked off, but I was moping. Moping because I no longer had a comfortable-as-hell job that paid well, provided a little bit of amusement among the long hours, dental, and health insurance. And paid vacations. Which I hadn't even gotten to take advantage of yet. I moped a little more. And had another glass of wine. I couldn't touch vodka after that fiasco. I don't like moping, so I took my glass over to the couch, buried myself in the comfy pillows, and looked at my situation.

Jobless with no other leads. Mopey. And probably drunk. Again. Since when was Higurashi Kagome a lush? This was getting to be a very bad habit.

"Hello?"

"Miroku. It's me."

So I did what I could and decided to take care of the first problem.

"Calling me on my cell. Kagome, are you drunk?"

I probably should have taken care of the last problem first.

"Probably."

"Can I come over-"

"No."

"Damn. Stiff as usual. Hey….Kagome, it's 2:47pm on a Tuesday. Did you skip work today?"

"In a manner of speaking."

"Kagome, did you….quit your job?"

"Maybe."

"Shit."

"Yeah…."

"Alright. I'll see if I can scrounge up anything- oh, hold on one second.."

In the background, I could distinctly hear Miroku flirting unabashedly to someone on another phone. She seemed to appreciate it about as much as me, only, she didn't hang up after two seconds.

"Ok. Hello? Sorry about that…"

"New girl?"

"Prospective. Wanna know how I met her? You're kind of responsible in a way. You see, one night I sitting at work, thinking about y-"

"That's fine, thanks. No more information is necessary."

"Be that way. What about you? Any new guys?"

"Prospective."

"You're lying."

"How'd you know."

"You wouldn't be drunk off your ass and out of work on a Tuesday afternoon if you had someone not drunk off their ass to come home from work to."

"Nobody said the prospective isn't drunk off his ass, too."

"True. Okay, I'll look at openings. You go wash your face, take some aspirin, and sleep some more. I'll be in touch."

"Yes, sir."

"And, Kagome…"

"Huh?"

"Was it really that bad, the job?"

"Probably not."

"I'll see if there are any secretarial openings. At least working as a secretary for that company should give you a whole new pile of credentials. And, I'm sorry. It's partially my fault for setting you up with that job."

"All your fault. But I wanted it. You can make it up to me by finding a job without a hard-ass-prick as a boss, though."

"Work for a large company for a little while and you're all spoiled."

Thanks Miroku. I really owe you. Some day I'll have to find a way to make it up to you…"

"Well, since you mention it, I've got the perfect solution-"

"Bye, Miroku."

…………………….

Two days later, I was out of my sorry-ass drunken stupor, showered, and ready to fully end the Taisho chapter of my life. First though, I needed to go get my stuff from my previous office of employment. I didn't feel like walking, but I realized I had left my bus pass in my desk drawer. I wondered idly if Taisho had already emptied out my stuff. I wondered where he would bruise the most if he had.

But that didn't matter. There would be no bruising because I was done with that jerk. I'd sneak into the office real quick-like, grab my stuff, and high tail it out of there. I'd be a ninja, if need be. As if to reassure myself of that fact, I somehow ended up wearing all black.

I arrived by foot at Taisho Inc. wearing black sweatpants, a baggy black t-shirt, and no make up. Screw Taisho.

The front receptionist gave me an odd look, smiled a smile that I knew was covering a laugh, gave me an indiscreet thumbs up, and let me in. Things were going smoothly.

"Ah, Higurashi….san." Jaken. Shit.

"Not now, Jaken. I'm busy with business affairs."

"But-"

"_Move_, Jaken."

Jaken gave out a sound akin to a kitten with constipation, and moved away in a scuttle.

"Taisho-" Jaken called after me.

"Fuck him." I finished. I moved on uninhibited, took the elevator up to the top, and found my desk, no Taishou in sight. Yeah, I owned this place.

I had just about gathered all of my stuff into a box from the break room, when Jaken showed up again, squeaking behind me.

"I'll have you be aware that Tai-"

"I'll remind you that I said fuck him," I snapped without turning around to give him even a glance.

"Then I suppose I'll remind you that inner-office relationships between employees are against company rules," a much lower, smoothly voice drawled out.

I guess there really is no God.

"Then I assume it would only be polite of me to remind you that I am no longer an employee."

"Do you want me that bad, Higurashi?"

"Do you want me back this bad, Taisho? It's prime meeting time for a Thursday, right now. Lost without anyone to wipe your ass and tell you where to go?"

"Lost without anyone's ass to wipe? After all, it is the prime meeting time for a Thursday. A secretary should be busy and productive right now."

"Maybe I'm not a secretary."

"Maybe I'm not a hypocritical, stick-up-the-ass owner and CEO."

"You said it, I didn't."

"What else could the abilities of filing and stapling get you?"

"You know what, Taisho?"

"I'm sure you'll enlighten me."

"You're a coward."

"Oh, do tell?"

"You're scared because you found a good, hard-working secretary who actually put up with your crap and dished it back equally well. You're a coward because now that you've gone too far because of your own self-centeredness, you can't go back because of your stupid pride. You can't apologize, and unlike ever other simpering employee you've had, I won't put up with it. And you don't know what to do, so you're scared. You're a big, pretty, rich kid with a broken toy that, for once, can't be replaced by a newer, shinier version."

I gathered all of my belongings in my arms, thankful for the automatically opening elevator doors.

"You called me 'pretty'," he said snarkily, maybe quite a bit angry. He watched as I walked into the elevator, box precariously balanced in my arms.

"It's not enough, Taisho. You're an ass. Pretty doesn't make up for it." I pressed the lobby button with my elbow. "And you know what? That platinum stapler you were always cursing? It worked splendidly for me. Like liquid metal."

The doors closed and I was headed downstairs, back to a life with a lot less Taisho and a little more relaxation.

………………….

I was not moping. Or brooding. The Taisho family does not know how to mope or brood. It goes against our very nature. Well, perhaps Inuyasha is an exception, but he's also a retard.

It took me two days to call.

"Hirano."

"Ah…Sesshoumaru! It's been a while. I miss our one-one-one chats!"

"Where is she?"

"I don't know who you're talking about."

"Do you like your job, Hirano? Don't think that I'm not aware of what you look at on our company computers during lunch."

"She's…job hunting."

"Hmph." The witch hadn't gotten a new job. I knew it. "Where does she live."

"Now…I can't tell you that. And even if I could, what would you do with the information? Go personally try to convince her to come back?"

"What I do is no concern to you."

"She's one of my best friends. Know her veeerrry well."

"Are extended vacations in your job contract. I could put one in. Unpaid."

"Okay, okay."

"Where does she live."

"Do you even know what you're going to say to her."

"That will…come when it is needed."

Miroku sighed into the phone, and I wondered how many different theatrics he possessed.

"Okay, just because I think you're a fairly decent guy-"

"Boss."

"-Boss, there's some things you need to know about Kagome first….."

………….

I was just out the front doors of Taisho Inc. when every single content of the box I was carrying spilled onto the ground as the box I was carrying became no longer carried.

Damn. And it was nearly a perfect exit. Oh well, I was still coming out on top.

I scooped down to pick stuff up and jumped slightly when a hand that wasn't my own popped into my line of vision, helping me gather my odds and ends.

"Thank you. I'm sorry for the bother."

"No problem, Kagome."

Oh. Inuyasha. Oh. I vaguely remembered that a while back I had been extremely pissed at Inuyasha. There were many things to be angry about because of him, but I was done being upset over him years ago. And now I had his brother to hate.

"Ah…" I scooped the rest of the stuff up quickly and picked up the box. "fancy seeing you here, Inuyasha. I'd stay and chat, but I was just about to leave."

"What are you doing with all that stuff?"

"Garage sale."

"At work?"

"Yep."

"Kagome….are you leaving?"

"That's a stupid question. I was walking out the door and I just told you I was leaving."

"I mean, are you _leaving_?"

"Oh. That. Yep! I'm gonna go relax for a week or two and start job hunting! You know how I get when I have to stay in one place for too long."

"Kagome, you're like _the_ creature of habit, if you have a choice. It was my brother, right?"

I sighed inside. There was no point in lying.

"It was your brother."

"Being an even bigger ass than before."

"You have no idea."

"He doesn't mean half of what he says."

"Then what half does he mean?"

"Well-yeah, usually the mean, ass-like half."

"This box is heavy. I have to go before my arms fall off."

Inuyasha looked at me, then at the box which was hiding half of me and cracked a smile.

"You're place isn't far, right? I'll carry it for you."

"What- no, that's fine, thanks."

"I won't take that answer."

"No, that's fine, thanks….jerk?"

"It's this way, right?" He flashed a bright smile that made me want to smile too.

And Inuyasha, box in hands, walked off towards my apartment, me following at his heels, remembering one of the reasons that I had fallen so completely in love with him, and wondering why it wasn't the same way anymore (even though I knew why) and why it couldn't be that way again.

Briefly I wondered if Sesshoumaru had ever been as charming and endearing as Inuyasha, but I answered that quickly and turned my gaze back to Inuyasha who was walking with a happy stride and starting a conversation with me about some soccer game he had seen on television or something. It didn't really matter. I smiled anyway.

……………….

AN: Okay….ummmm that turned out completely different than the tiny idea I had of what it might be like. Sorry this took so long. I've been busy busy. I'm in Rome now and I just had my birthday Saturday. I'm officially old. I think I started writing IY fanfics about…five years ago. Pretty scary, huh? Well, I'm sorry that this was so lame. I'll try to make it up in the next chapter, but we'll see how that goes…I have to figure out how Sesshoumaru redeems himself first. IF he does.


	11. Chapter 11

AN: Ummm…..yeah. No idea what's going to happen. Should be fun! oh, yeah. I finally took the hint and separated POVs. Sorry

It'S NOT sAnE

chaptEr 11

"DAMN BOX! YOU'RE A SQUARE! NOT A TEEPEE!" Is what I would like to say Inuyasha had been ranting as he picked up my articles for the third time, but the reality was that his choice in words had been much more…colorful. I obviously hadn't known the true versatility of the f-bomb. It made me feel at home. Inuyasha always had that effect. Okay, you may be thinking, 'the f-bomb makes you feel at home?' and I don't' blame you. Inuyasha and I had been an interesting couple.

We barely made it back to the apartment, Inuyasha grumbling the whole time. Just as we got into the entrance way of my place, the box practically exploded. We stared. Inuyasha stared at the box, then at me with this angry, helpless look and I died laughing on the spot. He looked at the box once more and joined me rolling on the floor. It took us at least five minutes to gain composure after which I stood up.

"What do you want to drink?"

"Huh?"

"Well, you carried that box, or…semi-carried it as best as you could all the way here, so I figured I could give you something cold at least.

"As long as it's not a look."

"What?"

"A cold look. I'm tired of getting those from you. It's annoying and depressing."

Inuyasha? Depressed? Now that was something.

"You don't look depressed."

He smiled. "That's because I just carried an insert colorful teepee comment busting at the seems with your crap all the way here."

"Point taken. Coke or Sprite?"

"Water."

"Since when do you drink water?"

"Since I just carried a insert colorful teepee comment busting at the seems with your crap all the way here."

"Point taken."

We settled down on the couch, Inuyasha looking around unabashedly like a little kid.

"Nice place."

"Yeah. I like to imagine."

"Why'd you move?"

"This was easier. Cheaper, closer to the place I was working at at the time."

"You leave that place, too?"

"Yeah."

"I'm seeing a pattern here, Kagome."

"Shut up. How'd you know I lived around here anyway?"

"Ah, it came up one day when Sesshoumaru came home with bandages. He said you'd done them. Your place just sorta came up."

"Sesshoumaru talked that much about it? He was pissed."

"Well…maybe he didn't willingly offer up the info."

"You annoyed the shit out of him, didn't you?"

"Maybe."

"Good. He deserves it. I won't ask why you were barging into my business. Hey, shouldn't you be going back? You were going to Taisho Inc. for a reason, right?"

"It can wait. That box was heavy."

"Yeah, yeah. More water?"

"Coke."

"Thought so."

* * *

"I see."

"Yeah, that's how Kagome is. You know, she may seem like a hard ass, no, she is a hard ass, but inside she's a sucker for usual girl stuff, even if she won't admit it. She's actually the nicest woman I know. And plus, she's got that nice a-"

"So I need a weakness."

"Sorry, can't give you that one. You gotta put something into this, otherwise she'll know it wasn't you and it'll seem like you don't give a shit about her."

"I don't."

"That's why you called me."

"How do I find a weakness in her when I don't even employ her anymore."

"Really, this is like counseling a fourteen-year-old on how to ask a girl-"

"Hirano."

"Right! Uh…well, think about it. Is there something she's brought up multiple times? Something she seems really interested in? And work from there."

"From there."

"Yep."

"You're about as helpful as talking to an idiot that isn't employed by my company."

"Always glad to be a help to Boss Taisho."

"Get back to work, Hirano." I hung up, feeling as if I'd just wasted five minutes of my life I would never get back. I leaned back and looked, annoyed, at my platinum stapler that I had unreasonably saved from the garbage bin. The stapler I still couldn't operate.

Something she'd brought up multiple times…what was wrong with me? Was I actually going to listen to the horny Human Resources idiot?

Status:

Secretary-less.

Busy as shit.

Secretary to schedule busy shit- gone.

Mood- cranky.

Secretary to take cranky mood out on- gone.

Not drunk.

Not a good predicament. My only consolation was that Rin was coming home for vacation that night. Thank God for a girl that isn't a woman who acts like a girl. Thank God for the one female in my life that doesn't yell at me, make annoying requests, expect pancakes in the morning, or break my stapler.

* * *

Inuyasha was on my couch. His feet were on my couch. I wanted to swat him and tell him not to get his hair on my furniture, but I realized he was passed out. That was fast. I'd just gone into the bathroom to rinse my face off.

I stared at him for a while, trying to gauge whether he was feigning it or not. I waved a hand in front of his face, tugged on his shirt a bit, and when that didn't work, I went to blow on his face but he cracked a smile and grabbed me, dragging me on top of him.

"You bastard! You scared the crap out of me!"

"I'd apologize, but it would be a lie," he grinned.

I squirmed, finally getting loose.

"What the hell was that for?"

"I was asleep. Didn't know what I was doing."

"Inuyasha….why are you here."

"You've gotten snippy, haven't you, Kagome. You cut me deep. I hurt."

Inuyasha grinned at me.

"Too much time around your brother does that."

"No, that turns you into a statue with a stalactite up its ass."

"True. But that's not the point. Why are you here?"

Inuyasha sighed and got up from my couch. He tugged on his shirt to straighten it then looked up at me and took a step closer.

"Kagome, when I saw you again, everything I'd kept hidden came back. Even being in a different country never got rid of it. And then, there you were in your cute little skirt suit, working for my brother. It drives me mad. I can't stand it. I missed you. I still miss you."

It was corny, I know. It was lame and cheesy and cliché and I couldn't take my eyes away from it. I didn't move when he stepped closer.

"All I could think about every time I saw you at the office was how much those short minutes would make me feel so much more happy than the last two years could have made me."

"Inuyasha, you-"

"All I'm trying to say is I want a second chance. I want it bad. If you give it to me, I promise I'll make you forget about everything else. Just….go on one date with me. Just one real date. That's all." Inuyasha leaned forward and kissed me quickly, just a small kiss and picked up his jacket.

"Think about it, Kagome. Please. And tell me as soon as you decide. I can't wait much longer."

Inuyasha left a lot quieter than he had come. I sat down on the couch, only to realize I'd gotten a fairly bad paper cut from the earlier box fiasco. I got up and went to go excavate my hall closet for the first aid box once again.

* * *

I left work early to pick up Rin from the airport. There was nothing more relieving to me than seeing her after so long.

"Sesshoumaru!" She ran up, launching herself around my neck.

"Rin. How are you? I trust school is fine."

"Yep! My teacher this year is a lot better than the one that smelled like pickled plums last year."

"I suppose that's quite an improvement."

"Yep! Are you gonna make dinner tonight? You don't' have to work?"

"If you'd like it, I will make you a proper feast."

"Sandwiches!"

"Sandwiches?"

"Uh-huh! Oh, where's Jaken?"

"In the car. Jaken, come get her luggage."

"Yes, sir."

"Jaken!!" Rin bounced up to Jaken and gave him a hug that seemed to turn him, if possible, an even more unsightly color than usual.

"Miss Rin-please-er-if you'd please--"

"Rin, come get in the car. I want you to tell me more about your lessons."

"Sure!"

When we arrived home, I made Rin her…favorite, because I really have no idea how to describe them, sandwiches and listened to her bubble on for a good two hours. She was possibly the only being that I could listen to for more than a minute and not want to strangle. Her, and possibly Higurashi, but that was probably because when we conversed, it was mostly about strangling each other. Speaking of which…

"Rin, will you go with me tomorrow to meet somebody?"

"Sure! Who is it?"

"A woman that used to work for me. I think she'd like to meet you."

"Ohhh….a lady? She's probably great if you like her!"

"Well, you can judge that for yourself."

* * *

Being unemployed has certain advantages with the numerous disadvantages. The main advantage I could think of was that I could sleep. And sleep I did. A lot. And I began to be annoyed when it was interrupted. Especially if it was during my mid-day, 2-4pm nap. Or my early evening 6-8pm nap. So you can imagine that I was a bit miffed, to say the least, when my doorbell rang at 2:37pm. I turned over groggily. And the bell rang repeatedly.

"I'llfeedthemtoBuyo," is probably what I said, but being as it was right in my afternoon nap period, I don't really remember.

I shuffled out of bed and glanced at myself in the mirror. An absolute mess. Who cared, if it was some solicitor, I'd just tell them to shove off and go back to sleep. I'd sleep until 4:05 to make up for it.

You can imagine my surprise when I opened the door and no one was there. And then when that no one spoke to me.

"Hi, Miss Kagome! I'm Rin!"

I looked down. Oh. There was someone there. A small someone.

"….You're…who…? Are you lost, or… no, maybe a girl scout…."

"She's mine, Higurashi."

Something clicked in my mind when I heard a voice I recognized. Then it all came up to speed. I blinked once, twice, then again more quickly and my eyes focused on a Sesshoumaru walking to my doorstep.

"Oh. She's yours……Oh. What the h- what are you doing here?!"

"You can coneal your excitement," he smirked at me, placing his hands on the little someone's shoulders.

"Rin, this mess standing in front of you is Kagome Higurashi, my old secretary. Higurashi, meet Rin."

I stood. And gawked. For multiple reasons. One being that Sesshoumaru was at my house, during my nap time, on a Thursday. The next was that he was at my house during my nap time on a Thursday with his daughter, Rin. The next was that he was at my house, during my nap time, on a Thursday, with his daughter Rin who was beaming at me and positively adorable.

Rin smiled at me and peeped around my leg.

"Oooh. Is that a penguin stuffed animal?!"

"Err…oh, yeah. Um…"

"Can I see him?!"

"Uh…sure." I stepped aside and Rin rushed in, Sesshoumaru following behind. I closed the door, utterly confused, if a bit less groggy. I stared as Rin squeezed my stuffed penguin (or one of them, shut up) and began to inspect every piece of my living room.

I stared as she squealed in delight at finding another penguin.

"You…." I started, not bothering to turn to address the man who was currently playing Bane of My Existence next to me.

"Yes," he asked, amused.

"You did this on purpose."

"I don't know what you speak of."

"You brought her here as a way to bribe me. You know I like kids."

"I don't like false accusations, Higurashi. I merely came because Rin saw your profile in the employee book and wanted to know who you were."

"CEOs don't make house calls to their old employees just to introduce their children."

"You may be right."

"I am right."

"I'll explain the other reason for my visit later. Right now, it looks as if Rin wants to ask you something."

And, indeed, it did look like that. She was standing next to me, practically jumping up and down.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Rin. Did you have a question," I asked as kindly as I could.

"What are their names?"

"What?"

She held out the penguins to me and smiled.

"Oh….err….um…that one is.,..err, Pengu. Yeah, Pengu. And the other one is….um….Wen. Yeah. Pengu and Wen."

"Oh! Pengu and Wen! Cute!" She bounced away and I couldn't help but smile as I stood up.

"You play low and dirty," I grumbled to Sesshoumaru out the side of my mouth.

"But it's so entertaining," he smirked.

Sesshoumaru was in my kitchen. I had gone to change into something less I'd-live-in-the-back-of-my-car-but-I-don't-have-one and come back to find him in my kitchen, stealing my bread.

"Before you unleash your womanly fury on me, allow me to explain. Rin is a child and requires food. I'll compensate you." He was bent over my toaster, doing something I couldn't see and drawing in deep, I'm-trying-to-be-patient breaths.

"Why are you molesting my bread?"

"It won't stay in the damn toaster. Is everything you own as big of a wreck as you are?"

"….."

"What."

I looked at him nice and slow.

"The toaster isn't plugged in," I offered.

"…I'm aware of that."

"…So why were you molesting my bread?"

"It appeared lonely. And since it's apparent that you get none, I figured I'd give something in your apartment a little action."

"Just because you're a man doesn't mean you need to feel up everything that contains yeast, you know?"

I plugged the toaster in for him and he surfaced triumphant from my kitchen five minutes later with what appeared to be a sandwhich.

"Is that….pickles?"

"Astute observation."

"…..with whipped cream?"

"Once again, your powers of observation astound me."

"…..and anchovies?"

"Yes."

"…..Huh."

"Dammit Kagome, Rin likes it, okay? I don't know who teaches her this nonsense but I'm beginning to think that foreign school is bad for her in more ways that one."

"…...Huh."

Rin called me over and I told her lunch was ready and set her up with silverware and multiple napkins. I also plugged in an air freshener at what I hoped was the nearest spot to her plate.

Sesshoumaru and I stood at the kitchen bar, looking useless and probably stupid until his cell phone rang and he glanced at me.

"She's fine."

"Hn." He stepped out of the apartment to answer the call.

"Kagome," Rin asked. Well, it was really more of a 'Kagfomay' behind the whipped cream.

"Yeah?"

"Does my dad make you angry?"

"Who?"

"Sesshoumaru, my dad."

"Oh! Sorry, I fazed out for a moment. Er, well, not really. It's just playful bickering most of the time, you know. Then again, he can treat me pretty mean. He just likes to abuse his secretaries, maybe? Or does he just really like abusing me? Anyways, it doesn't matter, because I'm not going to be his secretary any more and he can just shove that--"

I looked at Rin. She was staring at me, obviously confused, a piece of pickle in her teeth and whipped on her cheek.

"Do you like Cheetos, Rin?"

She cleared up immediately.

"Yep!"

"Would you like some on your sandwhich?"

* * *

It was 6:15pm. Not only had Taisho interrupted my afternoon nap, but he had somehow managed to extend that into interrupting my early evening nap also. I wanted to sledgehammer him once over the head, and, if he was still alive, make him fill out Taisho financial reports for prospective buyers until he died. Then again, knowing that guy, he'd probably get off on that.

However, the reason Sesshoumaru had stayed so late was far less aggravating, in a way. Rin, it seemed, had taken an obsessive liking to me. She had found my stash of penguin plushies hidden in a chest and some old Barbie clothes in a packed-away box. And by that time, I was too tired to give a shit whether Sesshoumaru saw them or not. He quirked an eyebrow, I flipped a finger.

But, God. There were some serious injustices in the world. For instance, how could a man who was the epitome of workaholic asshole have such an incredibly, sickeningly adorable daughter? Because, really, even as the time oozed on to 7:30, I didn't really care. I was having a blast with Rin, painting toenails and watching The Little Mermaid (from my babysitting days- always be prepared). And the icing on the cake was that Sesshoumaru appeared as if he was beginning to rethink his little plot. Especially when I busted out an unsent Christmas present that had been for my little cousin, full to the gills with My Little Pony and every accessory imaginable. The look on his face? Priceless.

It was half way through the French-kitchen-knife-throwing-chef scene when Rin broke the barrier a bit too much.

"I don't want to leave, Sesshoumaru-sama," she whined. "Can I stay here with Kagome?"

Sesshoumaru looked shocked, the tiniest bit confused, then a slight bit indignant.

"I don't believe that would be polite, Rin."

"Oh, come on, Sesshoumaru-samaa" I whined, using Inuyasha's puppy eye trick. "Waking someone up from a nap and barging into their home with your child isn't impolite. I'd looooove to keep Rin over for the night."

"Yay!" Rin squealed. "Can I, can I?"

"Rin-"

"Pllleeeeeaaaaase?"

Sesshoumaru looked possibly the most uncomfortable I'd ever seen him. I could feel the happiness radiating off of my and making the sparkles in my purple My Little Pony's hair shimmer as I brushed it.

"If Kagome is willing to keep you over for a night, I have no qualms," he stated finally.

"Nope, no problem," I beamed at him.

"Well then, I'll be on my way and leave you to whatever…womanly things you wish to do. And, Higurashi, if you try anything-"

"Don't worry, I won't pit her against you and all men on Earth."

"That's the least of my worries with her around you." He headed for the door.

"Ooo, Kagome! Braid this one's hair! French braid!"

"Er, I don't know how to French braid, Rin. Sorry, I can do regular braids, though."

"Oh, really? But Sesshoumaru knows how to French braid!"

Sesshoumaru stopped dead in his tracks.

"Really, now?" I looked up at him.

"Yeah! Sesshoumaru-sama used to braid my French braid my hair aaall the time!"

"Is that right, Sesshoumaru?" I smirked.

"Quite. I'm adept at many things you would never know," he recovered, turning around.

"Come show Kagome how you braid my hair!" Rin beamed, holding out her pink star pony.

Sesshoumaru, to my amazement, hesitated for only a split second before putting his jacket back down and taking the shining plastic horse. He sat down on the couch and proceeded to braid the hair. I watched on, amused as he produced a nearly perfect French braid.

"No, no," Rin scolded "you have to do it again and tell Kagome how to do it!"

It was 9:30 by the time we had finished playing with our ponies. We had re-watched the kiss the girl song scene of The Little Mermaid seven times and every doll or item with thread long enough to be French braided in my house was braided meticulously. Somewhere during the eighth kiss the girl scene, Rin had started to fade quickly. Next time I looked over, she was curled up on the carpet, pony in one hand, brush in the other. She looked like a dark-haired doll herself, sleeping away. Adorable. I couldn't help but smile.

"Well, that was an-"

But to my even greater shock and a bit of horror, I looked up to see Sesshoumaru passed out on my couch. Come to think of it, it had been a while since he'd thrown some newly-braided object our way.

I turned off the movie and picked up half of the pony mess to clear a space for Rin. I had to rummage through the black hole hall closet once again to find an extra blanket and pillow, but managed. I quietly arranged a bed around Rin. When I saw Sesshoumaru was still very much asleep, I felt like kicking him, but was far too tired for a battle, so dug around and found one more blanket which I threw haphazardly over him. Why did Taisho males seem to gravitate to my couch?

"I guess even CEO pricks need sleep, huh?" I smiled and gave him a once over. Asleep, he appeared almost calm, a real calm I mean, and even a bit beautiful. He was a very handsome and possibly sexy man, I had to give him that. And when that wasn't being ruined by every syllable coming out of his mouth, he was markedly appealing. I chuckled to myself, realized I was sleep-deprived, and got ready for bed.

I was just about to climb into bed when the phone rang. Without meaning to, I practically sprung out of bed, tripped over a bedroom slipper, stubbed my toe on my dresser, and cursed silently, all while trying to get to the phone before it woke my guests up.

"Hello," I whispered, taking the phone into my bedroom.

"Miss Higurashi. This is Onigumo Naraku. I'm sorry to bother you at such a late time in the evening. Are you available?"

"Well, I was just about to go to sl-"

"I won't keep you long, it's a promise."

"Well, I-"

"Trust me, it's a business proposition that would be supremely beneficial for you."

"…I suppose I could spare a minute."

"I thank you kindly. You see, my secretary's husband has come down with a terrible sickness…"

A lie, I thought. Naraku would never hire a married secretary.

"…and she must be on indeterminable leave, leaving her position fully open. I'm a fairly busy man and I can't afford to not have a secretary. I've heard that you've recently quit Taisho Inc. and I'd like to offer you that position, no questions asked."

"Well, you see, I was thinking of going into something-"

"I'll pay you whatever you were making at Taisho plus seventy percent."

"You….what?"

"Full pay plus seventy percent. All you have to do is show up tomorrow in one of your sharp little suit numbers, ready to work."

"But I-"

"I'll give you every weekend off and three weeks of paid vacation. I need you, Miss Kagome. If you can't tell, I'm in a dire situation. I fall apart without someone to keep me together. I fall into a pit, of sorts, and you'd be perfect for keeping me up."

Bet I would, you pervert.

Still, the offer was….great. I'd get my old pay, plus seventy percent, paid holidays I never got to take at Taisho, and no coming into work on weekends. The only difference would be trading an asshole boss for a pervert boss. It's not like I even had my old job anyway.

"I'll….have to think about it. Can I get back to you tomorrow?"

"That would be quite fine. Please consider it deeply. I'm in a tough position and I'd love a secretary as adept as you. I'm counting on you, Miss Kagome. Until Tomorrow then."

"Tomorrow. Right."

I hung up the phone and kept it by my bed so I wouldn't have to trip through my own house again in case anyone decided to call at two in the morning with an investment proposition.

"Will you going to accept it?" Sesshoumaru's outline stood leaning on my doorframe. I jumped about three feet in the air.

"Holy Mother Mary, Joseph, and all that is Catholic and Shiny!"

Sesshoumaru stood up and I could hear the eyebrow quirk in his voice.

"Catholic?"

"Err…I was raised at a shrine and as part of my education, I had to learn about a bunch of major religions and-what the hell- why were you standing there? How long were you standing there?"

"Your tramping and falling through the apartment would have woken a cemetery. Even Rin turned over."

"That's not the point! You have no business being in my business."

"Are you going to take his offer? Onigumo, am I correct?"

"I don't know what I'm going to do! He offered me far more than you ever did and he actually wants me around!"

"The only time Onigumo wants a woman around is when she's wrapping herself around his-"

"TAISHO. I will NOT have this conversation with you again. You may either recognize the fact that I am a hard-working college graduated businesswoman and not some gold-digging office whore or you can leave my house-now-and take your adorable daughter with you!"

Taisho took a step into my room and leaned against the wall. He stared at me for a minute, at least, I think he did. All I could see was his shadow, really. A bit appropriate for the shadow king himself.

I barely heard him take a deep breath.

"Did my Rin plan fail that miserably," he asked in a monotone I knew to associate with displeasure when it came to him.

"She's cute. I'll admit that. Okay, she's downright adorable, but that's not enough. I wasn't working with her breathing down my neck and harassing me every day."

For some reason, I wasn't nearly as mad now. Maybe that little bundle of sunshine girl just had that affect. If so, I couldn't understand why Sesshoumaru didn't wear copious amounts of pink and yellow and skip to work every day.

"You're thinking snarky comments, aren't you, I can tell. Just answer the question."

Damn. Did he know me that well? Oh, wait, whenever I'm around him, nearly all of the thoughts I think are ones of a snarky nature. I leaned back on my hands.

"Answer me this first. Why are you here? Not looming in my bedroom doorway, why are you here. Really. And what would you care if I worked for Onigumo? Can't stand to see something that was yours get taken away by another bigger, richer kid?"

Sesshoumaru walked a few more steps in and seated himself at my desk chair. He did it smoothly, as if he'd lived here for years and could navigate it in the dark without second thought. God I hated how he made everything look so easy.

But then he seemed to slouch a bit, the tiniest relaxing twitch.

"In no specific order, I'm here because I brought Rin to see you. You mentioned her multiple times and I thought you wanted to meet her. But you're probably correct, in that that probably isn't the real reason. For the record, Onigumo is not richer than I am. I have property wealth he doesn't have. I could pay you what he offered, but I will not bring myself down to bribing you. I knew Onigumo would try to hire you. He's been smitten with you for some time and your friend Hirano tipped me off early. I don't want him to hire you because he's a slimy, greedy, using bastard who's stepped on more people than money he makes and I'm tired of him ruining my best employees. I'm also vaguely wary because he's shown so much interest in you. Not because I think he'll take company secrets from you or even because he might toss you away like all the others but because I'm wary that he won't. He wants you at his company badly, and if he actually turns out to pay you more and treat you better, you'll stay. And that, it would seem, is why I would care if you worked for Onigumo and that is why, it would seem, I am really here."

I sat still for a while and thought about what he said. It seemed like something that could never come from Taisho. What was Sesshoumaru trying to say exactly?

"I'm vaguely flattered. But on the other hand, it all comes down to you not wanting someone else to play with your toy."

He shifted a bit, uncrossed his legs and leaned forward on his elbows.

"And that would be where you are, once again, incorrect."

"Am I?"

"Indeed. You drew the wrong conclusions. It is not a case of him having something I once did. It's a case of me wanting back what I once had."

I stared at his dark outline. Was he sleep talking? Had he sniffed too much glitter from pony hair?

"You don't seem to understand how powerful of a person I am, Kagome. If I fancy something, I usually just send the money for it, or someone to go get it. However, I haven't tried to buy you with money, and instead of some lower associate here to convince you, I'm here to convince you myself. I don't work for things I don't really want. I won't offer you a raise."

"Hmph. Could have guessed that," I smirked, mostly because I was confused.

"But, I can attempt to not be such a..'stick-up-the-ass-jerk-off' to use some of your favorite pet names. I'm warning you, though, my attempts to be kind more often than not backfire and have the opposite effect."

I sat for a while and stared at a painting I could barely make out on my wall. I'd almost forgotten it was there. Something with blue flowers.

Why was he suddenly pouring his heart out. Did he really need me that badly. No, the question was, did I need him at all anymore. Obviously, the set up with Onigumo would be much cozier.

After a minute, I'd gained enough composure back to talk.

"…You mean, you've tried to act kind before?"

"Once. It was a nightmare. The police were called in and one of the office Fichus plants didn't make it through the night."

I smiled despite myself.

"I'm going to sleep now. There's coffee if you want some in the morning. Wake me up and I'll make sure the fichus isn't the only casualty associated with your office. Good night, Sesshoumaru."

"I wish you pleasant dreams of fichus to butcher and men that would actually take you out."

"I wish a sleep that will cure your anal rectal inversion."

"Right."

Sesshoumaru stood and left the room without so much as a noise, let alone a toe stub and broken vase. I figured that sometimes, maybe I just couldn't win against him.

AN: God this was a lot harder than it should have been. I'm sorry this took so damn long. I made it longer than the last ones to make up for it, though. I've been busy working on a comic with a fellow artist. I'm writing half of the story for it and doing the screentoning. And she's going to draw her wonderful, stylish art for it. It's a bit difficult for me because it's in the steampunk genre and I'm not used to that, but it's original and I'm really excited. It should start after summer break ends. For right now, I'm helping her finish another shounen-ai webcomic called Honeydew Syndrome (yeah, don't ask) so if you're in to that stuff, check it out, it's on smackjeeves. Otherwise, keep an eye out for the steampunk one. It will be called Megiddo Engine.

Between that, finishing up school, and coming back to my own country, I've been busy, so, apologies coughexcuses!

I hope Kagome and Sesshoumaru realize their situation (whatever it may be) soon. ;;; Also, I don't proof read, so, sorry?


	12. Chapter 12

AN: I'm apologizing ahead of time, because a lot of grammar stuff has been messed up in formatting, and I'm tired of going back and re-inserting every comma and apostrophe by hand.

Now, According to , its been two years since this story was updated. I still receive comments and favorites on it, however, and I thought I owed it to you guys to see if I could push out some more of it, since it seems I was close to the end when I stopped. I'm going to update in much smaller chapters, as its much less daunting to me. I wont promise anything good, though, as its been years since I wrote anything to do with this story. (Also, man has changed format since I was last around. I feel so old.) With that said, if anyone still remembers this story, here is.

:edit: Edited because I realized, commas or no commas, you can't read a story that has dialog without quotation marks.

chAPter

12

It'S noT saNE

Madness in great ones must not unwatch'd go.

-Shakespeare's Hamlet, Prince of Denmark

I had to admit, after leading the luxurious, high-class life of the unemployed for a few weeks, getting up at six a.m. was painful. Also, it appeared that my appetite of potato chips and diet coke followed with a work out regime of flipping TV channels hadn't been kind to me. My suit skirt was just a tad bit tighter than I would have liked, which made my thighs look fat, but my butt look awesome. Guess that's what happens when you don't spend every day stressed out and running around the office of an arrogant prick. I smiled just a little in the mirror. My hair actually looked better from being saved two weeks of scorching via blow dryer and I had put on makeup for the first time in days which gave a better effect than I remembered. All of this was nice, except I wasn't fully conscious of it. Actually, I just wasn't fully conscious, period. It took until I was collecting my purse and keys to realize the alarm was still ringing full-force. I threw a book at it and it stopped upon impact with my floor. My neighbors must have loved me.

I gave myself a once-over in the mirror in the entrance by the door. I really did look awesome in a skirt suit, even if my thighs were a little more substantial than before. My eyes looked like shit though. Or, I was having a shit time looking out of them. Everything still had the six a.m. sleep-blur to it.

When I walked into the lobby of Taisho Inc., I couldn't help but wonder if maybe I didn't look as good as I thought I did, and maybe my sleep-blur had just softened the newly softer parts of me a l black and white movie love scenes. Or maybe the incredulous holy hell, you're back looks I was getting were in response to me just being there. In that building. Which I had pretty much stormed the hell out of a few weeks prior like a water bison on a warpath. A mad, war-like water bison. What, I had spent a lot of time watching the Discovery Channel during my unemployment period, so sue me. And water bison are scary.

There were workers staring at me from everywhere as I plodded to the elevator, while I was waiting for the elevator, and while I was in the elevator. Naturally, there was only one thing to do. If I were Taisho, there was only one thing I would do. Act like I owned the whole damned place, even if it werent worth owning. So I did. Couldn't bring myself to impersonate having a stick up my ass, though. Had to give credit to Taisho, its harder than it looks.

By the time the elevator was getting towards the top, most of the workers had scuttled out sideways on lower floors, giving me weird looks. Thus I was surprised when the doors opened one floor beneath the top level, going up. I was more surprised as I watched a walking pile of folders and books attempt to get into the elevator without toppling over. I smirked and grabbed the top half of the pile of books.

"Hello, Jaken."

A small, putrid chicken face gawked at me, eyes bulging in their sockets.

"Miss- Miss Higurashi. What are you-"

"Helping you, so can it."

Jaken shut his sqawking mouth immediately, to my immense pleasure. Being the closest thing to a secretary for Taisho must have enlightened him as to how much less his life sucked when I was around.

The door opened and I took the rest of the books from Jakens arms and walked out. Ill take these, so head back downstairs, Jaken. Im sure Taisho will bitch at you when he needs you.

"But-but, he stammered nobly, and I pressed the down button on the elevator, Jaken still stuttering inside it."

This was either going to be fun, or the worst day of my life. So far I had shocked the entire building and flustered Jaken. So far, so good.

......

Though it was considerably less prominent than the near-blinding headaches I had been blessed with the prior week and a half, a headache I still had. I opened up my leather satchel and pulled out a bottle of aspirin, only to find several pink and purple My Little Pony brushes stashed in the bottom of it, accompanied by a white pony with unbraided hair. I made a mental note to tell Rin stealing was not good. But seeing as how it was Higurashi's plastic pony stash she'd plundered, I didn't think a severe berating would be necessary. A grown woman should not own so many plastic animals. It was unsettling. The glitter had taken multiple washes to get out from under my fingernails. I had still found some on my pillow from the night before when Id woken up in the morning.

There was a small knock on my office door.

"Come in, Jaken." I rubbed the bridge of my nose lightly.

"Still popping pills, I see. I knew you needed help."

My eyes would have opened in surprise if they hadn't been screwed shut by pain. But nothing was a better distraction from pain like more pain. I opened my eyes slowly and couldn't help smirking. The snappy princess brought it out as a natural reaction.

"Higurashi. I trust the mess Rin left with all of your ponies and barbies wasn't too hard to clean up."

"Oh, not at all. It was quite worth getting to witness your unchallengeable French braiding skills. I can only hope to master the art as well as you. Then again, you've had _many_ more years to practice, haven't you?"

"It is a skill I developed upon reaching adulthood. You'll learn, I'm sure, once you reach the same mental age. Until then, _you_ have plenty of years to practice, I should think. But, enough of this. I am being rude to a guest. How nice it is of you to visit Taisho Inc."

I waved a hand in the direction of one of the chairs across from my desk. She remained standing, despite my once-in-a-lifetime invitation to sit. Shed regret it if our argument went on as long as some had before. I did not, however, regret it. She looked good. Shed filled out a bit, and her bre- well, I had forgotten how good she looked in a skirt suit. Ill leave it at that.

"Oh, Im not visiting, Taisho."

I quirked an eyebrow.

"Oh? Then what, pray tell, are you doing here?"

She sached over, all hips, and picked up the platinum stapler from my desk, fiddling with it. Then she smiled. An evil smile that reached her eyes, making them glimmer.

"I'm being paid, she said off-hand, as if it were of no consequence, and wasn't the exact reason she was in my office."

Ah, there she was. Miss Thang. Miss 'Tude. The disturbing lack of her usual self when I had brought Rin over to her apartment had been nearly disorienting, but for all I knew, she had planned it that way.

"May I ask exactly by whom you are being paid?"

"My employer, of course. Sharp as always, Taisho. Your observational prowess is astounding."

The little minx raised the shining stapler up and checked her lips stick in the reflection, her finger sliding around the edges to remove invisible excesses of the pink color. It would have been ridiculous and outrageous if she hadn't made it look so good. What had two weeks of no work and one night of Barbies and ponies done to the woman? I made a mental note to never let Rin play ponies with Higurashi again, less I had to fend off elementary school-aged suitors wanting to trade cute Pokemon cards for a date at the park sand box.

"You sounded remarkably like me just now, Higurashi. Was that meant as an insult?"

"Why, are you insulted?" She smiled coyly.

"Hardly." I smirked and leaned forward, resting my chin on my hands. "I can't think of a sexier sound."

"Well then," she fingered the stapler smoothly and put it back down on my desk. It was painful to watch. In a very different way than the pain she had caused me before. "I have an outstanding offer from another employer, so why don't you tell me exactly how hard its been without me."

"Higurashi, everything is harder you're around."

"I didn't know you were that big of a pervert, Taisho. Or is that a trait only I bring out in you?"

"You bring many things out of me, Higurashi, and not one of them is something to be desired. Do not think I will give in to your whims."

"Indeed, there is nothing _desirable_ about you, Taishou." She turned around and started back toward my office doors.

"I don't need a raise. But I want my two weeks of paid vacation promised to me along with an annual three weeks. And I want a company car. Ill get your schedule from Jaken."

"And what makes you think Ill accept your conditions?"

She opened a door and peered back over her shoulder.

"You need me. Oh, and Taisho, you might want to spend another hour every morning straightening that stick up your ass. If you're not careful, it might come out. We wouldn't want that, now, would we? It'd be impossible to find another one big enough to replace it."

With that, she waltzed out of the office like she was the only female on the face of the earth, the door clicking shut behind her. I leaned back in my leather chair and smirked. She may have won that round, but she was back (point for me) and I'd have plenty of time to show her she couldn't do just as she pleased in my company, just because I'd asked for her to come back personally (point for her). Let her have her small battle victory. The war was mine. After all, she was back.

But good lord, her ass had looked good on the way out.

AN: So Kagome is back. And it only took a sleepover with a young adopted daughter and 8 repeated viewings of the Kiss the Girl clip in the Little Mermaid to do it. If only life were that easy. Heh. Ill try to slowly eek out some more for this. Going back and reading it all again, I realized how many mistakes I made, but I also realized Ive lost a little of my full-out comedic wit since then. My type of humor is much more subtle and mean now, (or maybe I just like to think that) but I will try to match what I had written for this story before. Thanks to everyone thats read this story over the years!


	13. Chapter 13

AN: It's been a long time. How are you?

A couple issues to address:

1. It's a HUGE honor to have a whole category for my webcomic on FF If you'd like to read some of the fics, you can do so here: /comic/Honeydew_Syndrome/

2. I've changed my pen name. I'd been wanting to do so for a long time, as I don't really go by cloverx anymore. I wanted my writings to all be under one name. Sorry for the inconvenience.

IT's NOT sanE

cHAPter 13

"In all matters of opinion, our adversaries are insane."

-Oscar Wilde

* * *

"Ewwwww," she said.

" 'Ew.' " I meant it as a question.

"Yes. Ew. You know, like 'ick' or 'blegh'."

She scrunched her nose up at me for emphasis.

"Ew."

I stared at her in what I hoped was a way that made her blood curdle, her soul burn, and her body writhe (not like that). Alas, she didn't seem to be curdling or burning, unless you counted her attitude. And far as writhing went, well….well, perhaps it's better if I didn't think about her writhing. That was a bad word to choose. It had all sorts of slippery connotations. Slippery. Wrong word. Fuck.

"Putting your apparently abusive use of a thesaurus aside, I need these papers to be filed. And if I'm not mistaken, you're being paid to do so, so do it."

"I'd prefer not to."

This time there was no accompanying facial scrunch. Just fact. Why, _why_ do I torture myself?

"While I momentarily ponder why I could possibly have ever entertained the thought of rehiring after firing you, and think instead about the reasons I _didn't_ want you around, you may sit there and 'prefer not to', but know that your preferences do not matter to human resources when they remove you from pay roll."

"Let me momentarily help you ponder," she smiled. "Now, let's think for a moment…Now, work with me here…" she looked loftily towards the unexposed sky, her hands raised in a wistful manner.

"If I recall correctly, you didn't fire me, I quit. And even if part of you didn't want me around, the parts that did far outweigh that one that didn't, seeing as you came crawling to get me back. And I say parts because the one below your belt that wanted me around would have to be accompanied by many larger parts to weigh any notable amount.

"And on the topic of human relations, have them send a note up here informing my boss that filing his business acquisitions is not in my job description, and if he wants to see me this bad, he doesn't need to make up work for me to do, all he has to do is ask nicely. In fact, even if he _did_ make up some work for me, if he dislodged the pole in his rectum and were polite about it, I might even consider doing what he requested. But, as it is, the only filing that will be done right now is that of my boss, into his office.

Even I didn't catch all of that. Her ability to rant was astounding. But I caught enough to play along. I always do.

"I see. So hypothetically speaking, if I were to say… 'Higurashi, come into my office…'"

"Please."

All right, I'll play.

" 'Higurashi, come into my office…please'. Are you saying you'd do it?"

"I'd prefer not to."

"Then there's no sense in me being polite, is there? I want these filed by ten."

* * *

"I bet when you were born the doctor slapped himself for delivering you…" I mumbled under my breath as he walked away, back straight in a I-so-own-you way.

Well, everything was back to normal.

When I realized this thought made me a little relieved, I slammed on the breaks. Being in a verbally abusive boss-secretary relationship where our daily driving force was the prospect of defacing, subverting, or all out insulting the other just a bit more than they could you….is normal?

_To Do List: Recalculate perception of a healthy life._

So what now? After all of the unusual drama, we were going to pretend he hadn't basically called me a whore, I hadn't walked out on him, and he hadn't come crawling back for me, and I hadn't went back with him. Wow, all said out like that, it sounds like a Spanish soap. Only with less _POR QUE, MARIA _and a lot more _fuck you, douchebag_. Again, really needed to recalculate my life.

Anyways, Mr. Tude was back on track, and I was following him. We could play this game until we die (a gruesome idea), and as long as both of us agreed to it and the terms, we could hide anything behind it. Because that was the type of people we were.

_Really, REALLY need to reevaluate my life._

So that was how it went. I'd come to work, go straight to my desk. Make first contact around 8:00 to tell him his morning appointments for the day, insult him in some way while doing so, then around lunch I'd go to tell him his afternoon appointments and he'd return the insulting double-fold, which I would then have to match and raise either before work was over, or first thing in the morning the next day.

It was vicious. Like, after having let spill how much we actually needed each other to survive (health insurance and money for food for me, someone to keep his day organized and pee-on free for him) it seemed like we had to make up for letting the other know one of our insecurities by cranking up the insults. Even other employees were starting to notice.

* * *

It was _splendid._

Never had a person single-handedly insulted me so many times within a week. She was back on cue. Apparently her nervousness at being around me again made me so uncomfortable that she had to insult me at every possible moment. She didn't look for opportunities. She made them.

I pressed my golden stapler down on a pile of productivity reports. It worked like a mechanism of the gods.

_She wants me._

It occurred to me that weekend, as I was speaking to Rin on the phone (she was staying with Inuyasha for a night, so that I could sleep more than four hours--something I was keenly suspicious of Inuyasha about (he was never that aware of others), but still accepted-- that my thoughts had been quite frequently circulating back to Higurashi. Or more exactly, how her ass looked in that skirt suit the first day she came back. I will restrain from choosing any adjectives, as I'm nearly positive it could only do me harm.

However, many adjectives began to spring up in my mind as she skidded across my desk the next morning. I mean, she skidded documents across it. Not herself. Not that I would object to—shit.

Now, understandably I had been very busy with work for a very long time, and as a consequence, had not had any…. "action", not that I couldn't get it immediately if I wanted it. I just had no time or desire. It seems that all that desire had disappeared and reappeared in full force ever since she'd been back in the office. Or maybe it had just been tucked away, waiting to bare its fangs. Whatever the matter, I was, as Inuyasha might say,"sexually charged".

"So you're horny," Inuyasha snorted into his end of the call.

"What did you say," I replied in what I hoped was a nonchalant tone.

"That's gotta be why you're in such a crap mood."

"I'm pretty sure that's you're doing."

"Woah, dude, I care about you too, but not that way."

"I'm hanging up now. Do not ever call me again for any reason."

"W-wait! Hahahaha! I was just kidding. You just seem tense."

"Yes, that's a way to put it. If you were truly concerned, you'd get your overly underambitious ass into the office and help me finalize a very important deal. All it requires is an hour of a day and your- _don't say Handcock-_ John Handcock.

"Pfft. You said cock."

Even having a normal phone conversation with Inuyasha that isn't stressful requires thought and preparation.

"Geez. Alright. I'll come in tomorrow."

"10 a.m. Be here or I'll have you removed from the family registry."

"You can't do that."

"Don't be so sure."

"If you could, you would have done it ages ago," he smirked.

"Tomorrow," I hung up.

One annoyance taken care of.

There was a knock on the door.

"Bert, I have some mail for you."

Great. Higurashi came in without my okay and dumped a pile of mail on my desk, presumably to give me as many paper cuts as possible.

I did what I do best. Remained sarcastic and emotionally unscathed. I quirked an eyebrow and took the bait.

"Bert?"

"Yeah, Bert. You know. Sesame Street. Ernie was the easygoing one everyone liked. Then there was Bert. I think he was taller than Ernie because of the stick up his ass. Made his little puppet spine erect."

Speaking of erect, she was wearing a pants suit, which usually means nothing. But damn me if those pants weren't fitted. And while I used it as a transition, I'll have everyone know that I was _not_, in fact, erect at all. Just aware.

She began to sort the mail. She licked her fingers to do so. Why did she have to do this in my office?

"Why must you do this in my office?"

"Well, it's easier to sort it here, rather than sorting it outside your doors, eight feet away, then making eight trips to bring you the different categories. "

She'd never done this before….had she?

"This pile is ASAP stuff. This pile is Important Stuff You Should Really Probably Look At. This one will be Shit You Might Care About But Can Wait. The one by the stapler will be Letters From Angry People Which Will End Up Being Read By Someone Else, Probably Me."

"And that pile?"

"Ah, that I'm filing. You won't want to read it."

"Where are you filing it?"

"There." She took the whole pile, and with a large slide of her arm, swept it into my titanium alloy waste basket.

_I want her._

Everything stopped. What the _fuck?!_

* * *

I stopped in the middle of my "filing". I realized that Taisho was being overly interested in what I was doing. Sure he was always interested to some degree that he would not acknowledge, but he was watching me closely.

Like he was going to gobble me up.

I tried not to freeze completely where I was. I managed to breathe. I congratulated myself for that fact. I wondered if I should ignore it, play it to my strengths, or try as quickly as possible to forget I'd ever seen his expression. That seemed like the best choice.

"You look like you're going to ravage me," I said wisely.

We both froze. I'm pretty sure the entire building, Earth, and Immortal Time Itself did too.

_You can do this. Saveitsaveitsaveit. . DO SOMETHING, YOU DOLT!!!_

"But what's new, am I right? I suppose you think every time I tell you to take a call for me, you think we're having intercom sex."

He saved it. Very, very badly. It meant he was affected too.

"Well, maybe if you didn't breath so heavily when you do it. I can't tell whether you're jacking off or having a heart attack. At your age both are possible, I suppose."

He quirked an eyebrow.

"Yes, young ones like you wouldn't know the first thing about real sex. No matter what your grade school teacher tells you, a three-week-old banana is not the same thing."

"Oh, but in your case, I'm guessing it's just as discolored and messy."

Thank. God. It was all back to normal, right? Right?

"Speaking of discolored and messy, has Onigumo contacted you again?"

"Yes."

"And?"

"Well, I'm not boning the grease ball, and I'm obviously not working for him. So he didn't get what he wanted."

"That's reassuring in many ways."

"Why, if I were sleeping with him, would you be jealous?"

_Crapcrapcrapcrapcrap. What are you _doing_?!_

"No, but if you were, I'd have to fire you based on health precautions. You could infect the whole building."

"Rest assured that the only people I would want to infect with something as glorious as STD's would be you."

"Oh….really now?" Biggest eyebrow quirk in all of quirking history.

_Huh-W-woah, that TOTALLY CAME OUT WRONG._

"Of course. Maybe herpes would help ease that stick out of your ass somehow."

"You seem fascinated with my ass."

"You seem fascinated with me."

"Maybe your ass."

We both froze. What the hell was going on?

"Taisho, are you flirting with me?"

"I don't flirt."

"You're flirting with me."

"I don't flirt. I acquire."

"Are you trying to acquire me?"

"I already have."

Okay, I went from being thoroughly shocked and a little (just a little) complimented to being royally pissed.

"I see. Well, since you've gotten what you wanted to acquire, I'm just going to go do my job so I can acquire my paycheck."

"Is that what you want?"

"Who doesn't want a goddamned paycheck, Taisho? I've got to _live_."

Where the hell was this going? Suddenly I found myself extremely irritated with the sight of him.

"I acquired you. But I haven't gotten what I want."

"Are you really, really saying this right now?"

"I don't believe I stuttered."

"Do you realize how much of a sleazy asshole you sound like right now? It's ironic, because I know this other sleazy asshole that I turned down a job from _because_ he is a sleazy asshole."

"Go to dinner with me."

"Great, now not only are you as sleazy as Onigumo, but you're demanding and obnoxious like Inuyasha."

_Oh shit._

"I'm….what?"

I couldn't tell if the look on his face was anger so pure that he was incredulous about how angry he was, or if it was anger with something more annoyed because he'd just been compared to his brother whom he hated. He looked almost…hurt. I stared at him. My mouth must have been open, because when he spoke next, I realized I hadn't been breathing, and sucked in a huge gulp of air.

"Hm. I see."

Something was so, so wrong.

"It' not—"

"I was out of place then. Excuse me."

If possible, I think I might have turned into a pillar of salt. I couldn't feel any part of my body move. Sesshoumaru apologized. He didn't apologize. Something was going very wrong with this day, with my world.

"If you're done filing, you may go finalize the afternoon schedule."

_Subtext: we're both doing a bang up job of screwing everything we know to shit-all, and I'm giving you the excuse to leave, so you best take it._

I nodded awkwardly and turned to leave. When I got to the doors I turned around.

"I'm not dating him."

He looked up from a paper he'd picked up to read from the Important Stuff You Should Really Probably Look At pile. Something passed over his face quickly, almost relieved.

"I'm glad you're not totally insane, along with incompetent."

I stood for a moment, then walked through the doors, sticking my head back through, into his office.

"I'm not dating him _yet_."

I grinned coyly at him. The Cheshire Cat couldn't have done better.

He looked at me for a moment, then went back to his paper.

"Indeed."

"Also, the ASAP pile is the one next to that."

"Someday I'm going to drown in neatly arranged stacks of paper, and my body will not be found because I will be in the Shit You Might Care About But Can Wait pile.

"You know, Sesshoumaru, that pretty well sums up our lives."

_Yeah, I can be deep._

"I disagree. You're obviously the sort that should be 'filed' away. People actually require me in order to survive."

"And you require me, or you'd never know what papers are Things You Ought to Know."

"I don't have one of those piles."

"Which is why you need me. That was only half of the papers. Jaken's bringing the rest up in a corporate wheelbarrow."

"Wheelbarrow."

"Don't worry. They're platinum. Taisho emblem all nice and etched on the sides."

I raised an eyebrow, made a half smile, and let the door close behind me with a

* * *

"What the _fuck _happened?!"

"You have a way with words as always, Inuyasha"

"You look like shit."

"Do tell."

"I mean, you don't look _like shit_, but you look like shit."

"Is there a point to this?"

"What happened?"

"I didn't take into account some factors and misjudged something."

"You fucked up."

"I fucked up."

"It wasn't the company you screwed over though."

"How do you know."

"Because you'd be angry. You're not angry."

"Since when have you become an psycho-analyzer? I don't recall you having a BA in anything other than partying."

"Hey, the fine arts count."

"Go away."

Inuyasha, instead of leaving like I'd hope he would, only got closer and closer to me. I didn't even know why he was there, in my house, instead of out planning whatever he was going to do to screw up tomorrow's huge deal.

"It's a girl."

"And if it is?"

"What did you do? Did you insult her? Did you ask her for a date and get rejected?"

"Yes."

"…..Was it your secretary."

"Yes, it was Kagome. Go ahead an say her name. I know you know each other."

"Kagome rejected you?"

"I'd really rather slam my head against a concrete floor than speak to you right now, and seeing as how I normally have no suicidal tendencies, I think you should take the severity of my dislike and annoyance at the moment to heart."

"Oh hell, you're _drunk_."

The last word was said with a half snort. The most unattractive sound ever, coming from him.

"That is of no importance to you."

"Rin said she likes staying with me, but she wants to sleep at home tomorrow night. It kinda hurt, but I get it."

"I'll come pick her up."

"Not like this, you won't. Drink that recipe I gave you before, chill out, and call Kagome."

"I'm not calling her."

"Yes, you are. Because you're so goddamn miserable right now it's pathetic."

"Rin better be getting ready for bed."

Inuyasha grinned through the phone.

"She's already asleep."

* * *

"You sound horrible."

"Thanks, Miroku."

"No really. What happened?"

"The gates of hell opened up and one of the four horsemen decided to start galloping around the offices of Taisho, Inc."

"You've already been fired once, what could have happened that would be worse?"

"I'll have you know that I wasn't fired that time, I quit."

"Wait….don't tell me. You've fallen for Sesshoumaru?"

"Of all the conclusions you could have reached…"

"He's powerful. And attractive. I envy the man and I'm not afraid to admit it. He's probably the only man in the company that gets more play than—nevermind. So you like him and the ground split open beneath your feet?"

"Not quite. He asked me out."

"….I don't quite understand. Where does the apocalypse fit into you getting a date?"

"You don't understand. He's _Sesshoumaru_. And I'm Kagome. We don't date. We argue. We fight. We degrade each other. We make fun of each other's lacking sex life."

"…And that's different from dating each other how?"

I sighed possibly the deepest sigh ever. I felt it in my spleen.

"You don't understand."

"I don't understand why you're not jumping at this opportunity. The guy's a genius, extremely rich, very good looking, and he likes you."

"But, I—"

"I don't care. You not taking this would be like me refusing a date with Pamela Anderson."

"Ew, really?"

"Figuratively speaking. I'm fairly sure his bosom isn't as ample."

"….Right."

"Anyways, I have to go. Sango's waiting for me."

"Sango?"

"That new girl I talked to you about before. I think I want to stick with her."

"Wait, you? Stick with a girl?"

"She keeps me in check. And I check her out. Her ass is heavenly, I—"

"Congratulations. I'll talk to you later."

"Yeah. Take a chance, Kagome. Later."

I hung up the phone almost incredulously. Even Miroku was finding someone he wanted to "stick with". And I couldn't even decide if I hated, was attracted to, or maybe felt a bit of both for the one man that asked me out. Oh, but I'd basically rejected him. Forgot to tell Miroku that part.

The phone rang and I picked it up.

"I swear, Miroku, if you're calling to tell me about her ass or tits, I'm going to—"

"Kagome."

Oh no. My heart stopped and started again in a split second.

"….Sesshoumaru."

Wait, why were we calling each other by name? I waited for him to say something, a lot longer than I expected.

"Sesshoumaru….are you _drunk_?"

I had never been on the receiving end of a drunken Taisho. Whenever he had been tipsy, I had been plastered.

"Yes. Though I'm feeling distinctly sick for a different reason after drinking some concoction Inuyasha dreamed up in his college days to deal with hangovers."

"…The irony isn't lost on me."

"Of course not."

"Sesshoumaru….why are you calling?"

"Because we made a mess today."

"Yes, yes we did."

"And I can't afford to make messes."

I thought for a moment. How was I supposed to take this?

"…I'm not going to quit, if that's what you mean."

"I would never expect you too. You're far too stubborn, and far too tough. It's rather unladylike."

"Then you should hire male secretaries."

"Then they'd quit on me."

"….True. So what's your point?"

"I'm wealthy, Kagome. My company is doing better than it ever has. I don't believe I'm unattractive based on what others have told me."

I almost snorted. He was so aware of his good looks that it was painful. And hadn't I just heard all of this five minutes before?

"And don't snort. The point is, in all of this idiocy, that I don't _need_ you. I could hire twenty male secretaries and twenty more to replace them when they quit. I have the means."

"So you called to boast."

"I called to tell you that you should go to dinner with me."

"Why."

That seemed to throw him off. Perhaps he was confused that his money, power, and looks weren't enough incentive. Perhaps the last shot of vodka he'd done was coming up with Inuyasha's recipe.

"Because I want to go to dinner with you."

"That's asking a lot."

"I know. But I recall you once referring to me as a 'demanding prick'."

"I'm so articulate."

"Hm."

"You were supposed to agree."

"Hm."

Against my better judgment, I found myself cracking a smile.

"….I won't go to dinner with you."

"I see."

I tried extremely hard to read his voice but couldn't.

"However, I have wanted to see Rin again. And I don't feel like cooking tomorrow. Promise me my cushion tassels won't be French braided again, and I'll provide the entertainment. I just bought Cinderella."

"You're an incomprehensible piece of work."

"And you're nearly slurring your words. I'm hanging up now."

"Isn't this the part where you say something snide and hang up on me?"

"No way."

"Why the sudden, uncharacteristic change in heart?"

I grinned into the phone.

"Way too easy."

"That's what she said."

"That doesn't even make any…Did you really just say that?"

"God, I hope not."

"Ewwwwwww."

* * *

AN: Yeah….I have no. clue. I wrote this all tonight, mostly in one go. So! There are tons of mistakes and Sesshoumaru has more mood swings than a 12-year-old girl. It's also a bit more depressing than the other chapters, but they've gotta get someone, and constant arguing won't do that. I hope this wasn't as hideous as I think it was…


	14. Chapter 14

AN: "Whatever could this be?!" you say. TWO chapters within SIX MONTHS? "Verily, you lie to us, Ma'am!" I lie not, good gentlemen and gentlewomen. Guilt is a bitch.

I was thinking I might eventually go through the earlier chapters and reformat them so that the shifts in narration are clearer. If I can get enough time. Anywho, I have no idea what will happen, and neither do you, so let's have fun.

It's NOt SANE

Chapitre 14

"Mine eyes do deceive me, or I've passed into the afterlife and gone straight to Hell."

"Nope. I'm too pretty for hell," Inuyasha grinned.

I'd forgotten that my brother could actually look somewhat presentable when he was wearing a suit and had taken a shower within a week.

"Bet you forgot how good all of my manly bits fill out a-- "

"You've ruined it."

"I didn't realize we were having a moment."

"If you'd like a moment with another man, I'd be happy to call up Jaken for you."

"You're one sick bastard."

"So I'm told."

"Speaking of which, did you fix it with Kagome then?"

"What was there to fix?"

Besides the colossal fuckup I'd made, the near endangerment of our abusive boss-secretary relationship, and the general horndog comments I'd presumable picked up from Inuyasha at some horrible point in my life I couldn't remember.

"I'm taking Rin to her house for dinner."

We began walking from my office towards the meeting room, two floors below my office.

"Did she ask you to bring Rin?"

"Yes."

"Ouch."

"Quite."

For once, I would let him insult me. It was true that, despite all seemingly fair laws of the world, one thing Inuyasha did have more experience in than me was women. If one night stands counted as experience.

"So, what's on dock?"

"Dinner. Ordered, I presume."

Fuck if I was going to tell him about the looming Cinderella marathon.

"She's always been good at dialing a phone."

I stopped, midstep and Inuyasha halted too.

"What did you say?"

Inuyasha turned to me, a semi-hardened look on his face, eyebrows knit, his face scrunch in a disgusting way. He was thinking.

That meant he'd screwed up.

He suddenly beamed at me.

"She's not the girly type, is she? Any woman who can put up with you must be half beast, after all. She told me once that she'd rather pick up a phone than a spatula."

I began walking again in full strides so Inuyasha had to skip a little to keep up.

"And when did you have that conversation?"

"When I was waiting outside your office for you one day."

"Huh. Well, I'd appreciate it if you would not accost my secretary. You do enough damage to my being, I'd appreciate it if you left alone the woman who organizes my already decidedly (since you've come) shitty day."

"You need me today."

"And hopefully never again."

I opened the large meeting room door and entered. Sitting down at my seat at the head of the rectangular table, I perused the faces of our clients, barely seeing them.

Inuyasha never waited for me outside of my office. Inuyasha was not that polite.

* * *

"That was very polite of you," I stated at the back of Inuyasha.

I'd been surprised to see him in the office earlier that morning, walking with Sesshoumaru. It wasn't like I didn't know about Sesshoumaru's dire wish for anything Inuyasha-related to internally combust. I myself would have avoided him entirely if he hadn't been standing right in front of the coffee maker.

"Hey, Kagome!"

Inuyasha turned cheerily, and I took a step back to insure no spilling of scalding down my front. Ah, spilled coffee and Taishos. The memories.

"I know your sarcastic look. What'd I do this time?"

"I don't know the full measure of your rudeness, because I left after 'she must be half beast'.

"Oh, that. Take it as a compliment."

"How am I supposed to do that?"

"You're a beast…_in bed_."

I would have smacked him, but that would take too much energy. So I sighed and elbowed him out of my way. Where the hell was Jaken when I needed him to do the coffee run? Probably making tadpoles in the loo with all of the slimy creatures that seemed to work in the building.

"The beast _was_ you. I don't think a bear could snore that loud while they hibernate."

"Oh, _come on_, we were great."

"No, no we were not. You were young and horny. Not too sure you aren't still the latter. And now I'm tired, so if you'll please excuse me—"

"Have you thought about what I said before?"

"About me being a beast?"

"Forget that, please. _Before_ before."

"Yes I have."

"….And?"

I looked up at him, into his huge warm eyes. He was wearing his puppy smile, and it promised that, if I were with him, everything would be okay. It would be happy. I'd be happy. That was a big promise, and something I really needed. But Inuyasha, though it seemed he'd matured greatly, had never been good with promises. Inuyasha's eyes squinted a bit as he smiled brighter. Suddenly he looked older and different than the Inuyasha I remembered. He had a handsome smile now, not just cute or sexy. The type of smile that you know will look good when he's fifty. And he was different. The Inuyasha I remembered never would have waited for me to give him an answer. He wouldn't have leaned forward like this and wrapped his arms around me warmly.

I let my hands come up to rest on Inuyasha's back for a moment. He was warm. Though he wasn't as tall as Sesshoumaru, he was still quite a bit taller than me and he felt comfortable. Being around him was either fun and relaxing or annoying, but never depressing. Well, not anymore.

"Inuyasha…"

I patted his back and pulled away, looking him straight in the face.

"Yeah."

"Are you okay with that?"

"You know me, Kagome. I'll deal. I'm almost as strong as you."

Inuyasha smiled into my shoulder.

"I'm not as strong as a lot of people think."

"I think you're pretty freakin' amazing. And if dealing with my brother's advances isn't strong, I don't know what it is."

"I don't know, maybe beastly?"

"Hey, I said half-beast! Don't make me out to be some bad guy."

I smiled a little for him.

"So we'll end this on good terms."

"Yep. I give you my blessing and good luck. You're gonna need it."

Inuyasha threw away his coffee cup and started away.

"Hey, I never said that Sesshoumaru and I are—"

"Kagome."

Inuyasha turned back around and walked up to me. He put both hands on my shoulders, bent down slowly, and kissed me with more passion than I remembered him ever kissing me for all of a split second before I pulled away as quickly as I could.

Inuyasha grinned at me like a fox that had just caught a chicken. A fat one. Not saying that I'm fat.

"You didn't want that. That's how I know."

"You mean that, just because I don't want to date you, that means I want to get into Sesshoumaru's pants?"

"No. I mean you're obsessed with him. You work for him, you stress out about him, and you don't know what to do with yourself around him. You're obviously conflicted."

"You've been talking to Miroku haven't you."

It wasn't a question.

"No…?"

"You would never use the word conflicted in a sentence."

"…I may have chatted with him for a second the other night."

"Right. So what else did he tell you?"

"Nothing. All I know is I'd like to be with you, but you don't want to be with me. For some reason I can't understand, you like Sesshoumaru. Why you chose a prick like him beats me though."

"Guess I like jerks."

He quirked an eyebrow, and for a split second, I saw a thread of relation between him and Sesshoumaru besides hair color and impossible attitutudes.

"So I wish you luck, Kagome."

"You too, Inuyasha."

I stood up and gave him a kiss on the cheek, holding my coffee in one hand, then made my way around him, back towards the office.

"If you get tired of the stiff, you know where to find me," I heard him call out as I rounded the corner. I made my way back to my desk, feeling surprisingly light and not too bad about the whole deal. Inuyasha was being mature, and he was trying to support me in his own way. Now I just had to make it through the harrowing dinner tonight with his less supportive brother.

"They're both impossible," I sighed to myself as I sidled down into my chair, pulling my blouse down unceremoniously. Who invented low-rise suit pants anyways? Didn't they know you can't wear shorter, cuter blouses with them without your ass hanging out this way to Sunday? I'd have to commandeer an office supply catalogue and order myself a chair with a solid back. One of those cushiony ones. With rolly wheels. Yeah, those are awesome. If I aimed right, maybe I could kick Jaken while rolling down the hall…but my fantasy was interrupted. They always are.

"Who's so impossible that they warrant a sigh from Hurricane Higurashi?"

Great. I can do this.

* * *

I could have remarked on Kagome covering her ass with her blouse, but some things are too easy for a person of my calibur.

"Who's so impossible?"

The snap of her head was nearly audible. Ah, satisfaction.

"My boss. He won't buy me a good chair."

"Do you need one that will cover your exposed…flesh?"

Okay, so when she was concerned, it didn't seem I was above much at all anymore. This was getting critically bad.

"I want one that won't break my back when I take all of the calls you don't want to, plan all of your meetings, separate all your mail and email, fill our your check reqs, deal with Jaken, and check openings for swanky restaurants to take your clients to so you may roofie their Dom Perignon and make them sign away their life blood along with their earnings."

"For your information, I've never had to roofie a drink to get anything I wanted."

"Right. That's what your money's for. Tell me, do you pay the women of the night to come with you, or do they pay you to go away?"

"I wouldn't know. All the sluts I need seem to congregate around my office."

I stopped short with my witty reply. We'd been savage to each other before, but it escaped my memory if we'd out right ever called each other dirty names. We were more subtle than that. More artful. _Right_.

"Did you just call me a slut?"

"Verily."

"Well, considering how hard you've been trying, but that you still haven't gotten a piece of _this_," I swept my hands over my figure, making sure they curved where they needed to, "I think you'll need to rethink your definition of slut so as to exclude me."

"You don't have to have slept with _me _to be a harlot."

"I—"

Where the hell was this personal vendetta coming from? It was different than our usually pointing fingers and name-calling, okay? So why was he so damned pissed, even if he wasn't showing it on his face--

Oh.

_Oh_, I thought. How would he _not_ know? Inuyasha and I had let slip enough.

"I'm not dating him anymore. I haven't in years."

"Somehow, I don't find that comforting."

"We'll you're going to have to deal with it."

"I don't have to deal with you."

"Look, Asshat."

I was p-i-double-s'd.

"I'm not about to play déjà vu with you, and this is one too many times you've accused me of being a whore. You were wrong the first time and you're wrong now. If you don't want to associate with me, then don't come begging me to work for you. I owe you a shit ton of _nothing_. You insulted me beyond humor, left me to fry with Onigumo, French-braided anything with thread in my house, and molested my doughy food products. If anyone has morality or personality problem, it's you. So pull your foot out of your ass and make some room for it in your mouth."

With that, I collected my purse and not-so-elegantly stormed out of the place. Taishou could get his own goddamned coffee.

……

After my bitchfit, I sat at home the rest of the day drinking wine, eating ice cream, and rewatching Breakfast At Tiffany's at least three times. Yeah, life was good again.

I tried not to think about how fired my ass was. I tried not to think about how much I really. Didn't. care. Sure the man was powerful, intelligent, and disgustingly attractive if you could get over…him…but that was not enough to make me take abuse like that. Call me a bitch, remark on my nonexistent love life, break all of the staplers in the office, but do not call me a whore.

I was so serious about this topic that I made sure to remind the Pizza Palace worker that I placed my order with of this fact, making him only slightly uncomfortable, as he had to explain politely that he did not call me a whore and would never because he couldn't afford to lose his job and I seemed nice enough anyways.

Poor guy, he had more zits on his face than the pepperoni pie I was looking forward to.

I was on my third glass of wine and feeling rather foompish at the world when the bell rang. I sprang up, only stumbling in a way barely noticeable, and nearly skipped to the door.

"Oh, thank God, I thought I was going to die—oh hell."

There, instead of the pimply seventeen-year-old I had expected was the annoying tall Sesshoumaru Taisho, holding a box of pizza. Behind him I could barely make out the delivery boy scampering to his car for dear life.

"I hope you at least tipped the poor bastard."

"He'll be able to afford a bike without training wheels now, if that's what you mean."

"Great."

Taishou stood, pizza box in hand, looking pointedly at me. I didn't care.

"Are you forgetting something?"

"You're right. I'll be taking that."

I snatched my heavenly grease slabs from his hand.

"You're forgetting something else."

"Sorry, did you need something," I asked through a mouthful of dough and sauce. I'm genius when it comes to opening pizza boxes one-handed. College skills.

"It would only be common etiquette for you to invite me in about now."

I chewed for a minute, holding one hand up to signal for him to wait. Swallowing happily, I blinked at him, looking confused and innocent like a dear lost in a hunting range, but too focused on the shininess of the rifles to realize it was time to run like hell or become Bambi-Mommed. Real verb, I swear.

"Well, considering I'm not common, and you have no etiquette, I see no reason for me to extend a gracious hand of hospitality to you, so I think I will go on with feeling foompish at the world and finish my pizza, thankyouverymuch."

I slammed the door in his face most delicately and stood against it, happily gnoshing on slice number two.

Through the door, I pretended not to here the now slightly pissed voice of one slightly pissed businessman.

"You know, I think you are too quick to judge me. And when you do, it's wrongly."

I finished my slice in one more bite and wished I had a glass of soda with a sippy straw so I could hold it with the other hand. Instead, I opened the box for another slice.

"I don't think so."

"Really." He sounded annoyed. "So when you've called me narcissistic, stubborn, idiotic, self-centered, and abusive—"

"You've forgotten petty, indecent, jealous, rude, and seventeen others."

"Right. So you think I deserve all of that."

"I'm a good judge of character."

"So tell me what it says about a person when they storm out of their job, and answer their door, inebriated, only for the medium pepperoni pizza which they plan to consume on their own."

"It's a large."

"Large pizza then."

"It says they know when to not put up with shit."

"I believe it says a lot more than that, and you are aware of it."

"Yeah, whatever dude."

Yeah. I called him dude. You wanna fight?

"Well, I suppose I'll take dude over Bert."

"Hunh?"

Pizza again.

"You referred to me as Bert from that kids program before. On reflection, however, I realized that you did actually make a characterization mistake. Berk is the dumb roundish one. Ernie is the one who, using your most favorite phrase, has a "stick up the ass".

"People make mistakes. For instance, now I'm thinking I should have ordered Hawaiian," I said, chewing openly. I could do this all night. All it would take was another call to Pizza Palace.

"Yes, you're quite right."

"I am?"

I nearly choked on a round meat disk.

"Sure you are. People make mistakes."

"Oh, I thought you meant the pizza. I was going to have to ask for a new pie and possibly a refund."

"So you are admitting that people make mistakes."

"Yeah. Are you admitting you're a person?"

A little silence and a sigh. I could picture him rubbing the bridge of his nose, and the thought of his pain made the next bite of pizza just a little tastier.

"Yes, I make mistakes."

"God do you ever."

"The last one I will make talking to you right now. Goodbye."

"_Peace_, dickwad!"

Yeah, I'm epitome of maturity. I listened to his steps echo away from my door, his expensive Italian leather kicks making a hollow noise that at once annoyed and satisfied me.

I slid down the door and sat on the floor for a minute, momentarily exhausted. I stared at my socks for a minute, as if the rainbow striped toes would impart some universal truth if I broke my corneas looking at them.

A bit weary and a bit wondering what the _hell_ to do now, I let my hands drop to my side, where the left one hit the pizza box. Ah, then socks answer.

Thinking about how I royally screwed myself over, I happily scarfed down the rest of my pizza, then managed to rally myself for a glass of diet coke. Feeling full, disgusting, and a bit calmer, I flipped on Cinderella and proceeded to feel foompish towards the world.

* * *

AN: This is a short chapter, and a bit dull. Hope you guys don't mind how much Kagome and Sesshoumaru are jumping back and forth. Personally, I'd have dropped the dumb twat. It won't last much longer. I think the next chapter will be the final chapter. Reason one- It feels like it's wrapping up for me. Reason two- Fifteen is my favorite number. Fifteen chapters would be swell. Hmm.


	15. Chapter 15

AN: Are you ready for this? Good, because I'm not. Thank you to everyone who has stuck through the…I don't even know how many years now…this story has been around. Thus the chaotic mess that it is now. I hope, though, that somewhere along the line, anyone reading this far has enjoyed it a bit. If you hate it or the way it ends, I'm very sorry, and you should probably go read some good literature. I recommend Oscar Wilde. So! Here goes! If you're hoping for a big, sloshy make-up scene, it probably won't happen. But I don't know what will. Should be interesting!

IT'S not(?) SANE

Chapter 15

Imagine, if you will, a girl. No, a woman.

She's intelligent, good-natured, and fairly attractive. This woman is in love with a man (sort of). He, she thinks, might be in love with her, but the problem is, they're both very intelligent, they both like each other (probably), and though they enjoy being with each other, they seem to find misunderstandings more interesting than having to, you know, interacting like civil human beings.

It might be safe to call them both royal idiots, actually.

See, this is the type of thing that happens to them. One will finally say something nice to the other, the other will think the first one is joking, and the other will insult the first one, who must, as per etiquette, insult back exponentially, and thus they are incapable of saying anything nice to each other and they just end up being very annoyed and fighty all the time despite really liking each other (probably). Actually, it might be safe to say they're both idiots. And the pretty one has a massive grease stain in the shape of the Holy Mother on her nose where she rubbed at it.

Don't get me wrong. The woman I was talking about before isn't me, but that crud does actually happen. She's my second cousin's wife's roommate's best friend. I lie not. Poor girl.

I, however, had other problems. Like the grease stain on my nose.

And the sound of Sesshoumaru's overly-compensating convertible driving away.

You'd think I'd learn. But then you wouldn't be thinking. Because, if you were really thinking, you would look at my very long track record of not-learning and realize that it would be stupid to presume that I should start learning any time soon.

The last piece of pizza lay in my limp hand, an abandoned stain on my life marking the night when I could have made something of a relationship but instead threw it to the sharks to rend into shreds like those that constituted my heart at that moment.

Yeah, I don't know what that meant either. I think what I mean is that I switched from feeling foompish to feeling kinda cruddy. I almost started to cry into my pizza. Almost. Thankfully the grease streak somehow stopped the tears from running down my face, and if they don't make it to your chin, it's not really crying. So I wiped them with a Pizza Palace napkin, got up off the floor, threw the last piece of pizza into some tin foil (my mother always said you can do as many stupid things in life as you need to in order to learn, but never, ever waste good food), and went to the washroom to wash my face.

It felt nice to know, when I looked in the mirror after scrubbing my face, that the redness and puffiness I saw in it could just as well be from cold water (or alcohol) as from almost crying. I folded my towel so exactly, an origami master would have cried in defeat, and made my way to my room. I peeled my clothes off and put them in the hamper, pulled out some clean casual clothes, and settled down in my living room/kitchen/dining room. I pulled out my shoebox of nail polish from under the couch and painted them better than I ever had before. I looked around my apartment as I waved my hands like a cheerleader on crack, drying the polish, and fell in love with my house all over again. Then I saw them. Near the TV, in a neat line, stood several My Little Pony, arranged according to color and glitter algorithm. Some stray strands were finally falling out of the perfect French braids.

The ponies made me furious.

What was wrong with me? Okay, let me rephrase that very open question that I'm sure has a million answers. Why was I moping around? The man obviously had only said what he'd said out of anger, and possibly some raging jealousy, and I had lied to him for a long time, but he'd still called me a whore. Twice. Bad news guys will always be bad news guys. Sesshoumaru was the type of man that mothers warn their girls about falling in love, then the girls fall in love with them anyway, and the mother secretly hopes the guy will hurt the girl, but only enough to make her understand guys like him may have their appeal, but they're bad and they'll always be bad.

But he had come to my house, presumably to apologize.

But he had done that before too. And it obviously hadn't changed anything in the long run. Well, it changed my clothes. That grease would be a bitch to get out.

I walked over to a purple sparkle pony and plopped down by the television. I brought the pony back to the dining table slash desk, to be able to fix it properly. I undid the elastic hair tie that only slightly resembled a flavored condom and brushed out the hair until it was perfect and neat.

Then I cut it off with my scissors.

I looked at it, turning it from side to side, watching the sparkle hearts on its candy ass glint, Its shorn mane shone with synthetic-fiber goodness.

"There, much better. Won't be needing him again, will you?"

I smiled a bit at the toy.

I was miserable.

* * *

I wasn't miserable. I decided that anyone that said I looked "tired," "stressed," "preoccupied," or "exquisitely dressed" tomorrow would be immediately fired. In fact, anyone that talked to me in the next forty-eight hours would be fired.

"Sesshoumaru, you look sad."

Sad. I hadn't thought of that one. Still fire-able though. Only, I couldn't fire Rin.

"Hn. Do I."

"Yeeep."

Rin didn't work for me. I couldn't fire her. But, maybe I could fire Inuyasha. The idea honestly had never occurred to me. Maybe I could buy all his stock from him so'd he'd have no real say in anything, and since he never did any work anyway, he'd never have any reason to ever show his face at Taisho Inc. ever again, and therefore would never show up to work, and therefore, would be the equivalent of fired. This idea made me want to crush the orange I was peeling for Rin a little less and want to use run-on sentences more often. No wonder Kagome used them, they were a good way to think things out.

Oh.

The orange into a pulp in my hand. Bits of it flew into Rin's hair and she giggled. I mopped her up with a washcloth and set at another orange, much more carefully the second time around.

Well, she wouldn't be back. Not after the stunt I'd pulled. For the first time in my life, I asked myself the question that Kagome had wondered allowed a million times.

What was _wrong_ with me? Well, no matter. It wasn't relevant any more.

I would die a handsome, filthy-rich bachelor with an adopted daughter cuter than any other millionaire's little twerp.

Honestly, I had more than 99.9 percent of the world's population.

But I didn't have it all.

If anything, the Taisho bloodline is an ambitious one. And I don't mean Inuyasha's goal to break the world record for drinking as many jagerbombs as possible in sixty seconds. I mean things that count.

Unfortunately, Kagome counted. I'd started to figure that out a while back. Unfortunately, my being handsome, handsomely rich, and having a handsome child didn't seem to help my ambitions towards Kagome.

In fact, I was pretty sure she wanted to skin me alive and use my bones to pick out the pepperoni from her teeth at the moment.

Strangely enough, the idea didn't bother me. I probably deserved it.

What _was _wrong with me?

"Rin."

"Mhm," she grinned with orange slice mouth.

"What do you think about Kagome?"

Rin visibly swallowed down way too much of the orange slice at once and wiped her mouth.

"She's nice."

Well, what was I expecting? Insight and motivation from a kid? Rin telling me something profound in the innocence of youth? Something that would give me the final nudge to chase after Kagome? Things like that only happened in bad romance movies that annoying women watched. Kagome wouldn't watch movies like that.

Or maybe she would. Where the hell had she pulled those dolls from, for that matter?

And that was it. The fact that I could think one thing about Kagome, think I had her pegged, then turn around to see she'd stolen my wallet. That I could think she was too intelligent for B movies, but she could, in reality, still appreciate them and like them for what they were. That was Kagome. Way too complicated for me to understand, even if I liked to think I did.

I watched Rin shove half an orange down her throat in what seemed to be two bites and wondered if they fed her at her school. I'd have to talk to the headmaster.

I watched Rin eat the last half of the orange (slower this time) and thought that maybe being ambitious was a good thing, but only in regards to money and work. Afterall, I had what was in front of me.

I'd made a mess of it. With Kagome, that is. And she wouldn't be back. I was pretty sure that, aside from breaking and entering her apartment, there was no other way that I would ever see her again. I'd just have to deal with that. I had lost deals before…well, not really. But I am a Taisho (which, ironically, was why I hadn't ever lost a deal before). Taisho's (Inuyasha excluded—I'm fairly sure he's adopted anyway) are dignified, and if they can't have something (honestly, that had never happened to me before) they aim for something just as good or better. I had my pent house, Rin, and I looked damn good in a suit. What more did I need to want?

Tomorrow would be a Kagome-less day and it would be a fine day. Maybe I'd look into buying Kagura Wind Power technology, just for kicks. Yes, tomorrow could be just fine.

Still, that didn't stop me from feeling something that was suspiciously similar to what I've heard is straight-forward miserableness.

* * *

As I drove to work, I realized I felt something even worse. With Kagome gone, my life would go back to how it was before—simple, profitable, successful, and satisfactory. So what, you might ask, could her absence cause in me that could possibly be worse than being purely miserable?

Ennui.

No, the "absense of Kagome"'s worst impact isn't that it would make me start speaking French, but that I would be utterly bored. The problem with boredom is that it tends to stick around and tends to shove a foot in the way of and generally trip up the aforementioned things like success and satisfaction.

Yes, I mused as I pulled my car into my personal parking spot, I would miss the woman I love (possibly) only because with out her my life would be disgustingly dull.

That, and well, I'd miss... Probably. Possibly. You understand, I am sure, without me having to spell it out for you. I'm a Taisho. I have dignity.

And no, it's not sex.

Although, I also mused as I waited for the elevator door, it's a shame I never did get a taste.

"Dirty thoughts again, Sir?"

Wait.

Wait.

_What?_

"…If anyone asked, I'm fairly sure you would tell them those are the only thoughts I have."

"And I'm sure they'd believe me. I can be very persuasive when I'm lying. After all, I know you think about other things. Like stocks. And GDP and all that. Then again, maybe for you those _are_ dirty thoughts. And, besides ass and misogyny, those are the only things you seem to think of."

"I must confess, based on my actions around you, you would seem correct."

However, at the moment, my thoughts were more along the line of _Why is she here? Why is she dressed for work? Is that my mail? Is she blackmailing me? Why is she here? That pant suit looks nice on her._

Okay, maybe she was right.

I'd like to take a moment to state right now (if I didn't mention it before) that, before encountering Kagome, I was not such a libido-driven being. In fact, Inuyasha would like to say that I was asexual (and he would be wrong). I simply had a _thing_ for Kagome.

"I like your suit."

Smooth.

"Thank you."

With that, I heard her mouth seal shut with an audible click. The next twenty seconds were torture to me. I could almost hear my diamond wrist watch clicking away twenty eternities. Never, I can guarantee, ever, has a Taisho felt so weak and uneasy.

All at once, after those twenty clicks, it all wanted to come out. I realized that I had plethora of things to say and I didn't know how to say a single one of them. It was like being blind, deaf, and mute, but still able to see and yourself make an ass of you. But, oddly enough, I wasn't worried about making an ass of myself. I was worried about Kagome thinking I was still and always would be an _ass_. There's a difference.

And then I thought about how she had sounded last night, muffled through her door. Of how upset she sounded. How pissed. And how sad.

And that, I will tell you, is the worse I have every felt in my life. I am able to take down small mom and pop shops without batting an eyelash. I can merge companies without breaking a sweat. I might as well just yield a baseball bat and go seal clubbing, because I probably wouldn't care if it would help Taisho Inc. I _am_ an ass. But hurting Kagome's feelings? Fuck.

So I decided to make an attempt.

"Kagome, I—"

"Don't. Just don't," she said as the elevator opened on my office floor. We both walked out, I following her and stopping as she turned around to face me.

"I realized something important last night, as I was butchering the hair of five innocent bystanding ponies."

"Oh," I said loquaciously.

"I realized that you're my boss. And I don't have to have the same values as you to answer your calls. And I don't have to like you to work for you."

At this point, I reached out and turned to sit on the edge of her secretary's desk, outside the doors to my office. Perhaps "sat" isn't the right word. More like, I fell softly. Whatever it was, I didn't want her to take it as obnoxious. Because when I looked up at her, I was about to ask an obnoxious question, that, before that day, I could only ever hear someone as dumb and tactless as Inuyasha say.

"…_Do_ you like me?"

The look on her face in that tenth of a second could have curdled the Mediterranean Sea if it were made of Greek goat's milk. Then it turned into something that told me she was thinking a lot and very fast.

"Yes."

_Oh. Good. _ Because that really mattered now.

* * *

Everything both of us could say would matter now. It would decide a lot of things. I watched his every move without trying to look like a rabbit deciding whether to run now or later.

"Do you…" he asked, "plan on stopping soon?"

He said it very carefully, and for once I knew the extra pronunciation wasn't to make me feel like the stupid peeon I was. I turned the thought over in my mind. I took a breath, smelling Pinesol and Bleach and a bit of the horrible cologne that the night janitor wore. It smelled like sandlewood and corn chips and shame.

I moved and took a spot next to Sesshoumaru, leaning on my desk. As such, we were on the same level (and neither of us would have to look at the other one directly—a definite plus).

"I think it would be best for me if I do."

"Hm…I'm starting to think that might be true. You seem to bring out my best and most gloriously worst."

"I don't recall ever seeing any 'best'."

"You saw me drunk. I'm sure it can't get better than that."

"So you admit that I'm stupid for liking you."

"I didn't say you're stupid. If you had far less noble intentions, like wanting a rich man for his money, I think you would be the most intelligent woman ever."

"Are you saying you'd willingly give me your money if I asked for it?"

"Now, now, let's not get hasty."

I couldn't help the laugh that crept out. Maybe we could be good like this. Like a boss and a secretary, and witty banter enemies, and maybe occasionally even friends. That wouldn't be so bad.

"I'd willingly throw my money at you, Kagome. All of it."

_Oh._

It would be so bad. It would be horrible. Like sticking a thousand hot knives into my spleen then slicing it with a Slap Chop.

I wasn't quite sure how to say that out loud, and I was positive I didn't want to. So we sat in silence for a while. Finally, Sesshoumaru pushed himself off my desk and mad his way to his office.

I sat there, staring at the hotel-worthy carpeting. I counted the weaves without counting them and felt my vision leave and return a few times. It must have been seconds, because I heard him open his heavy office doors. Knowing what I must do next, I sat up too and grabbed the stack of mail I had put on the desk when I sat down.

"Sesshoumaru," her voice came from above me. It was clear. Like everything that had just happened hadn't, and like she didn't have every right to hate my soul for the rest of eternity (not that I would tell her that). I hadn't even heard her open or close my door behind her.

I didn't lean back in my chair, but looked up at her, my hands still folded together. It made us less than two feet apart.

"I don't want all of your money. In fact, knowing where some of it came from, I think I'd generally dislike having much of it, however…" she twirled her hair a little, and looked to the side as if thinking, her tongue in her cheek. "A woman needs to eat. So I think I'll start by taking my yearly salary from you. Including those paid vacations, of course."

I hope I wasn't smiling like I felt I was.

"Oh, and, here's your mail. There are two more piles, by the way. Not everyone can afford to come into work at ten."

And it was all right again.

"I see. And which one is the "shit I should really know about" pile?

"That one over there."

"It's big."

"You have a lot to learn."

And with that, she turned around and swished her way to my office doors, opening them with a strength I'd never paid much attention to before. Or maybe she was the only one who bothered opening both at once.

"Indeed I do," I muttered under my breath, shuffling the gargantuan pile that was on the counter behind my desk.

"Oh, and Sesshoumaru,"

I swiveled my chair around to face her again.

"That new stapler, it's nice. Looks sleek. It's one of those special long ones they use for stapling books and such, isn't it?"

"Indeed it is."

"Thought so. It's broken."

Of course it was.

And Kagome shut the doors behind her.

Rin was right, Kagome was nice.

* * *

AN: Aaaannnnnnnnndddd that's it. It might feel lackluster to some of you, but that's how it is (mostly because I never planned any of it, I'm so bad ). I'm very glad and simultaneously very sad to have this end. I felt horrible having it lay around unfinished, but I'm going to miss it. : / THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR READING! Honestly, you guys are awesome. I wish I could tell you to go read my other fics, but they're so old that they're…well, shitty. I might start a xxxHolic one soon, but…yeah. So! Instead, please check out my webcomic, Honeydew Syndrome at honeysyn dot net . Add me on DA under the name schumie, cuz I tend to hit a few anime conventions every year, and it'd be cool to meet some peeps. Again, THANK YOU. You are all extremely sexy.


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